Learning while playing - Througie platform for creating models of spatial structures

Abstract

The paper shows a way to create a set of tools that allows the construction of different models of spatial deltahedral structures as a result of the game. It is a set of accessories with which participants (school children, students) through play, experimenting with different layouts and combinations of elements of the whole, create spatial forms from uniform elements: sticks of length "a" and ringshaped joint connections. The game uses a STEM learning approach and the "learning by doing" method to provide knowledge about the spatial relationships of elements and static properties of the structure, in the process of playing. The process of forming structures via mentioned connecting elements uses the same principle of connecting supports and nodes as in the real space truss. A similar method is used by some other gaming platforms, such as Geomag, Magna-tiles, Picasso, or Blockaroo. Unlike them, our solution does not use magnets, but prestressing.