Effect of an interactive e-book on middle school students' mathematics reading and spatial ability

Mathematics reading and spatial ability are important learning components in mathematics education. However, in traditional instruction, it is difficult to develop learners’ mathematics reading and spatial abilities. Therefore, many students struggle to understand real-world problems and lack the spatial ability to form internal imagery. To cope with this problem, in this study, an interactive e-book was developed. To assess the effect, a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest with a control group design method was adopted. The study was designed around the lesson topic “Three Views.” The participants were 34 seventh-grade students. The participants were divided into two groups: while students in the experimental group studied the lesson using the interactive e-book, those in the control group used a conventional e-book. The result indicated that both groups had a significant increase in the mathematics reading ability test, and even though there was no significant difference between the two groups in the subscales (general reading comprehension, prior knowledge of mathematics and mathematics specific skills), a significant difference was observed in the overall mathematics reading score in favor of the experimental group. In addition to the mathematics reading result, the interactive e-book learning mode had significant impacts on students’ spatial ability. It was also found that richness of content with visual and interactive elements provided in the interactive e-book enhanced students’ satisfaction with the teaching material.