Connecting Middle School Mathematics to Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

The subject matter of computer vision and pattern recognition can play a useful role in the education of mathematics for students in middle school. New standards in education call for new content relevant to students' lives, and new pedagogical methods involving construction, group work, discovery, and the use of new technology. The project "Mathematics Experiences Through Image Processing" at the University of Washington has developed software and learning activities that enable middle school and high school students to use mathematical tools and concepts to explore some exciting ideas of image processing. This paper describes these materials and discusses how the ideas of computer vision and pattern recognition can be integrated into the curriculum. Not only do we use 2D topics such as digital geometry and edge detection, but also 3D topics such as surface construction and stereogram generation.