Developing the Spatial Reasoning Ability in Lower Secondary School Mathematics -The Effect of \u27Looking for Patterns\u27 Strategy-

Problem solving, in itself a goal in learning mathematics, is also a means of developing new mathematical understanding. \u27Looking for Patterns\u27 is a strategy that has helped many students to solve mathematical problems. In this paper, I show how this strategy helps develop the spatial reasoning ability, i.e. to represent three-dimensional shapes in two dimensions and to construct three-dimensional shapes from two-dimensional representations. First, students were asked to construct some nets for regular polyhedrons. Students identified net patterns (ring, hook, U-shape) in the net of cube on the basis of symmetry. Second, they apply those patterns to a regular octahedron. I concluded that this strategy played a role in developing student\u27s spatial reasoning ability