What It Means
Keep an eye on the big picture while working out the details of the problem. You don’t want kids that can solve the one problem you’ve given them; you want students who can generalize their thinking.
3D Modeling Teaches Students to Look For and Express Regularity in Repeated Reasoning
By using “regularity in repeated reasoning” we mean an ability to learn from solved problems and use the knowledge to solve new, more complex ones. This process is inherent to 3D modeling where simple shapes are used to model more complex ones. In the following example, Eric (12 years old) used a variety of simple shapes including cylinders and prisms to build a 3D model of a clock:
