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Non-verbal reasoning: Rotating 3D shapes
Rotation of 3D composite shapes is an important part of
spatial
reasoning. Just as shapes and figures can be rotated in 2D, they
canalso be rotated in 3D space, in any direction, and by any
amount:
• Visualise the side and top views of the 3D gure soyou’ll be
able to spot them in the rotated object.
• Tilt the paper (or even your head!) to look at thegures from
different angles.
• Count the number of blocks used to make thecomposite gure, so
you can rule out any optionswith the wrong number of blocks.
• Look for dening characteristics of the gure so youcan try to
spot them in the rotated gure.
3D shape rotation tips:
Use Lego to construct different shapes and
then move them around, looking at them from
different viewpoints. When you’re working on the
3D rotation questions on the next page you might
find it useful to make each of the shapes in Lego
first, then use them as props to help
you visualise the rotated figures.
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Try these questions to boost your confidence with 3D rotation
questions.
Look at the five figures in the top box. Each of the questions
below showsa figure formed by rotating one of the choices, A to E.
Work out which
shape has been rotated to make the figure shown in each
question.
ROTATING 3D SHAPES EXERCISES 1-8
1
2
3
