Droodles
Droodles have been invented by Roger Price in 1950s. These were rather abstract drawings of few lines accompanied by an implicit question – “What is it?” A punch line – the author’s answer – made the drawings obvious. Everyone I talked to knew one or more droodles, but not everyone had heard the word. I find this strange because of their popularity in the 1950s and 60s. There’s still a small industry making a living off droodle party napkins and droodle bibs. Etymologically speaking, the word droodle derives from riddle doodle or, if you prefer, doodle riddle. (A quick search on the web produced a couple of later day interpretations. A dragon doodle is a kind of art with Celtic motives. An example is also available of a drool doodle which is a unique and an accidental creation of a budding artist who happened to nod in a (math?) class over one of his doodles.)
Droodles found their way into education. Besides their entertaining value, droodles are thought to foster creativity in children (and adults.) The Exploratorium uses droodles to teach children that “It’s easiest to remember stuff that makes sense to you and connects with other stuff you know.”
The expected punch line is seldom the only sensible answer. In cognitive research, this observation led to investigation of “young children’s grasp of the principle that two or more persons might differently interpret one and the same stimulus event.”
Well, that’s all good and exciting. Not only in mathematics but in other walks of life ideas conceived in one context become useful in another. But does the foregoing introduction have a punch line? Here it comes. There exist mathematical droodles and using them in instruction might be a valuable educational tool. What is a mathematical droodle? As a preliminary definition, a mathematical droodle is a visual object accompanied by a “What is it?” question to which there is at least one plausible answer with mathematical contents.