• The Mathematical Education
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.191-201
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• 2013

The theory of embodied cognition assumes that behaviors, senses and cognitions are closely connected, and there is a growing interest in investigating the significance of embodied cognition in the field of mathematics education. This study aims to applicate the embodied turtle metaphor and expressions when students visualize three-dimensional objects. We used MRT(Verdenberg & Kuse, 1978) & SVT for this research and both tests turned out that turtle schemes are useful to the students in a low level group. In addition, students found turtle schemes more useful in SVT which requires constructing three-dimensional objects, than in MRT which requires just rotating the image of three-dimensional objects in their mind. These results suggest that providing students who are less capable of spatial visualizing with the embodied schemes like turtle metaphor and expressions can be an alternative to improve their spatial visualization ability.