Showing papers on "Spatial ability published in 1999"

Types of visual–spatial representations and mathematical problem solving.

Abstract: Although visual-spatial representations are used extensively in mathematics and spatial ability is highly correlated with success in mathematics education, research to date has not demonstrated a clear relationship between use of visual-spatial representations and success in mathematical problem solving. The authors distinguished 2 types of visual-spatial representations: schematic representations that encode the spatial relations described in a problem and pictorial representations that encode the visual appearance of the objects described in the problem. Participants solved mathematical problems and reported on their solution strategies. The authors were able to reliably classify their visual-spatial representations as primarily schematic or primarily pictorial. Use of schematic spatial representations was associated with success in mathematical problem solving, whereas use of pictorial representations was negatively correlated with success. Use of schematic representations was also significantly correlated with one measure of spatial ability. The research therefore helps clarify the relationship between visual imagery, spatial ability, and mathematical problem solving.

Early sex differences in spatial skill.

Abstract: This study investigated sex differences in young children's spatial skill. The authors developed a spatial transformation task, which showed a substantial male advantage by age 4 years 6 months. The size of this advantage was no more robust for rotation items than for translation items. This finding contrasts with studies of older children and adults, which report that sex differences are largest on mental rotation tasks. Comparable performance of boys and girls on a vocabulary task indicated that the male advantage on the spatial task was not attributable to an overall intellectual advantage of boys in the sample.

Visual-spatial thinking: An aspect of science overlooked by educators

Abstract: Thinking with images plays a central role in scientific creativity and communication but is neglected in science classrooms. This article reviews the fundamental role of imagery in science and technology and our current knowledge of visual-spatial cognition. A novel analogic and thematic organization of images and visualization within science and technology is proposed that can help in the generation and evaluation of classroom activities and materials, and serve as a focus for professional development programs in visual-spatial thinking for science teachers. Visual-spatial thinking includes vision—using the eyes to identify, locate, and think about objects and ourselves in the world, and imagery—the formation, inspection, transformation, and maintenance of images in the “mind's eye” in the absence of a visual stimulus. A spatial image preserves relationships among a complex set of ideas as a single chunk in working memory, increasing the amount of information that can be maintained in consciousness at a given moment. Vision and imagery are fundamental cognitive processes using specialized pathways in the brain and rely on our memory of prior experience. Visual-spatial thinking develops from birth, together with language and other specialized abilities, through interactions between inherited capabilities and experience. Scientific creativity can be considered as an amalgam of three closely allied mental formats: images; metaphors; and unifying ideas (themes). Combinations of images, analogies, and themes pervade science in the form of “master images” and visualization techniques. A critique of current practice in education contrasts the subservient role of visual-spatial learning with the dominance of the alphanumeric encoding skills in classroom and textbooks. The lack of coherence in curriculum, pedagogy, and learning theory requires reform that addresses thinking skills, including imagery. Successful integration of information, skills and attitudes into cohesive mental schemata employed by self-aware human beings is a basic goal of education. The current attempt to impose integration using themes is criticized on the grounds that the required underpinning in cognitive skills and content knowledge by teachers and students may be absent. Teaching strategies that employ visual-spatial thinking are reviewed. Master images are recommended as a novel point of departure for a systematic development of programs on visual-spatial thinking in research, teacher education, curriculum, and classroom practice. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 83:3–54, 1999.

Sex-Related Differences and Similarities in Geographic and Environmental Spatial Abilities

Abstract: On average, males have reliably been found to outperform females on several traditional psychometric tests of spatial ability, especially those involving a component of mental rotation. The evidence is much less clear and complete with respect to performance on larger-scale and more ecologically valid tasks generally associated with geographic investigation, such as those involved in wayfinding, map use, and place learning. In this study, a community sample of 43 females and 36 males performed a large battery of spatial and geographic tasks. The battery included psychometric tests; tests of directly acquired spatial knowledge from a campus walk; map-learning tests; tests of extant geographic knowledge at local, regional, national, and international scales; tests of object-location memory; a verbal spatial task; and various self-report measures of spatial competence and style. Both univariate means tests and multivariate discriminant analyses largely agree on a comprehensive picture of the spatial abilitie...

The Hippocampal and Parietal Foundations of Spatial Cognition

Abstract: 1. Integrating hippocampal and parietal functions: a spatial point of view PARIETAL CORTEX 2. Spatial frames of reference and somatosensory processing: a neuropsychological perspective 3. Spatial orientation and the representation of space with parietal lobe lesions 4. Egocentric and object-based visual neglect 5. Multimodal integration for the representation of space in the posterior parietal cortex 6. Parietal cortex constructions action-oriented spatial representations 7. A new view of hemineglect based on the response properties of parietal neurones THE HIPPOCAMPAL FORMATION 8. Robotic and neuronal simulation of the hippocampus and navigation 9. Dissociation of exteroceptive and ideothetic orientation cues: effect on hippocampal place cells and place navigation 10. Variable place-cell coupling to a continuously viewed stimulus: evidence that the hippocampus acts as a perceptual system 11. Separating hippocampal maps 12. Hippocampal synaptic plasticity: role in spatial learning or the automatic recording of attended experience 13. Right medial temporal-lobe contribution to object-location memory 14. The hippocampus and spatial memory in humans 15. Hierarchical organisation of cognitive memory INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PARIETAL AND HIPPOCAMPAL SYSTEMS IN SPACE AND MEMORY 16. Memory reprocessing in coricocortial and hippocampocortical neuronal ensembles 17. The representaiton of space in the primate hippocampus, and its role in memory 18. Amnesia and neglect: beyond the Delay-Brion system and the Hebb synapse 19. Representation of allocentric space in the monkey frontal lobe 20. Parietal and hippocampal contribution to topokinetic and topographic memory 21. Hippocampal involvement in human topographical memory: evidence from functional imaging 22. Parietal cortex and hippocampus: from visual affordances to the world graph 23. Visuospatial processing in a pure case of visual-form agnosia

Developing 3-D Spatial Visualization Skills.

Abstract: This article brings up the point that 3-D spatial visualization skills are vital to graphics education. Instructors of graphics education, even though they have highly advanced spatial skills, rarely have the proper training on what spatial skills are or how the development of spatial skills takes place. As a result one must try to have a better understanding of spatial abilities. There are many interpretations as to what spatial skills really are and there is in therefore no one universal definition. As a way to better understand spatial abilities, Maier places them into five categories. The categories are spatial perception, spatial visualization, mental rotations, spatial rotations, and spatial orientation. These categories are vast. As a result of their vastness many of the categories overlap. Another step towards better understanding spatial skills involves differentiating how spatial skills are used while completing a task. Tartre makes a classification for how spatial skills are used while performing a task. The spatial skills are either used as spatial visualization that involves mentally moving the object, or as spatial orientation, which involves mentally moving the object. If the task involves spatial visualization then mental rotation can take place, which involves the entire object, or mental transformation can occur, which only involves part of an object. Visual thinking is a way to understand spatial skills. McKim offers the viewpoint that visual thinking occurs by three kinds of imagery. They are what one sees, what one can imagine, and what one can draw. All of these images interact with one another. Spatial skills are developed primarily in three different stages. This can be see be Piaget's theory on development. In the first stage, two dimensional, topological, skills are acquired. In the second stage, an understanding of 3-D objects, projective skills, from different viewpoints is achieved. Finally in the third stage, there is an understanding of area, volume, distance, translation, rotation and reflection, which is combined with projective skills. Spatial skills are evaluated in a variety of ways. There are tests that assess a person's projective skill level. Examples of these would be the Mental Cutting Test and the Differential Aptitude Test: Spatial Relation. Other tests assess mental rotation. Examples of mental rotation tests are the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test and the Mental Rotation Test. Results of these evaluations show mixed results as to whether there are gender differences in spatial skills. In order to enhance spatial skills, one must not only work with 3-D images, but they must also use concrete models and sketching. Overall I thought this article was very informative. It presented the information in a clear and concise manner. I summarized the information that I thought was especially useful for this class. The article really made me think how important it is not only to have spatial skills, but also to have an understanding of them.

The effects of three years of piano instruction on children's cognitive development

Abstract: The relationship between music and cognitive abilities was studied by observing the cognitive development of children provided (n = 63) and not provided (n = 54) with individual piano lessons from fourth to sixth grade. There were no differences in cognitive abilities, musical abilities, motor proficiency, self-esteem, academic achievement, or interest in studying piano between the two groups of children at the beginning of the study. It was found that the treatment affected children's general and spatial cognitive development. The magnitude of such effects (omega squared) was small. Additional analyses showed that although the experimental group obtained higher spatial abilities scores in the Developing Cognitive Abilities Test after 1 and 2 years of instruction than did the control group, the groups did not differ in general or specific cognitive abilities after 3 years of instruction. The treatment did not affect the development of quantitative and verbal cognitive abilities.

Sex differences in episodic memory: The impact of verbal and visuospatial ability.

Abstract: The impact of verbal and visuospatial ability on sex differences in episodic memory was investigated. One hundred men and 100 women, 2040 years old, participated in a series of verbal and visuospatial tasks. Episodic memory was assessed in tasks that, to a greater or lesser extent, were verbal or visuospatial in nature. Results showed that women excelled in verbal production tasks and that men performed at a superior level on a mental rotation task. In addition, women tended to perform at a higher level than men on most episodic memory tasks. Taken together, the results demonstrated that (a) women perform at a higher level than men on most verbal episodic memory tasks and on some episodic memory tasks with a visuospatial component, and (b) women's higher performance on episodic memory tasks cannot fully be explained by their superior performance on verbal production tasks.

High-School Chemistry Students' Performance and Gender Differences in a Computerized Molecular Modeling Learning Environment

Abstract: Computerized molecular modeling (CMM) contributes to the development of visualization skills via vivid animation of three dimensional representations. Its power to illustrate and explore phenomena in chemistry teaching stems from the convenience and simplicity of building molecules of any size and color in a number of presentation styles. A new CMM-based learning environment for teaching and learning chemistry in Israeli high schools has been designed and implemented. Three tenth grade experimental classes used this discovery CMM approach, while two other classes, who studied the same topic in the customary approach, served as a control group. We investigated the effects of using molecular modeling on students' spatial ability, understanding of new concepts related to geometric and symbolic representations and students' perception of the model concept. Each variable was examined for gender differences. Students of the experimental group performed better than control group students in all three performance aspects. Experimental group students scored higher than the control group students in the achievement test on structure and bonding. Students' spatial ability improved in both groups, but students from the experimental group scored higher. For the average students in the two groups the improvement in all three spatial ability sub-tests —paper folding, card rotation, and cube comparison—was significantly higher for the experimental group. Experimental group students gained better insight into the model concept than the control group and could explain more phenomena with the aid of a variety of models. Hence, CMM helps in particular to improve the examined cognitive aspects of the average student population. In most of the achievement and spatial ability tests no significant differences between the genders were found, but in some aspects of model perception and verbal argumentation differences still exist. Experimental group females improved their model perception more than the control group females in understanding ways to create models and in the role of models as mental structures and prediction tools. Teachers' and students' feedback on the CMM learning environment was found to be positive, as it helped them understand concepts in molecular geometry and bonding. The results of this study suggest that teaching/learning of topics in chemistry that are related to three dimensional structures can be improved by using a discovery approach in a computerized learning environment.

Children’s Play Preferences, Construction Play with Blocks, and Visual-spatial Skills: Are they Related?:

Abstract: Fifty-one preschoolers’ play preferences, skills at assembling block structures, and spatial abilities were recorded in this study. There were no sex differences in children’s visual-spatial skills, and play with art materials and children’s free and structured play with blocks were related to spatial visualisation. Two patterns emerged from the findings: (1) activity and performance representing skills in spatial visualisation and visual-motor coordination; and (2) creativity, or the ability to break set and to produce varied solutions using visual materials. Future research might examine the extent to which children’s play activities and experiences predict these types of skills.

Environmental reference systems for large-scale spaces

Abstract: Human navigation in well-known environments is guided by stored memory representations of spatial information. In three experiments (N e 43) we investigated the role of different spatial reference systems when accessing information about familiar objects at different locations in the city in which the participants lived. Our results indicate that two independent reference systems underly the retrieval of spatial knowledge. Environmental characteristics, e.g., the streets at an intersection, determine which headings are easier to imagine at a given location and lead to differences in accessibility of spatial information (orientation-specific behavior). In addition, access to spatial information depends on the relative direction of a location with respect to the imagined heading, such that information about locations imagined in front of oneself is easier to access than about locations towards the back. This influence of an egocentric reference system was found for environmental knowledge as well as map-based knowledge. In light of these reference system effects, position-dependent models of spatial memory for large-scale environments are discussed. To account for the simultaneous effect of an environmental and an egocentric reference system, we present a 2-level model of spatial memory access.

Sex differences in visuospatial working memory: components of cognitive processing.

Abstract: Numerous studies have shown that sex differences in visuospatial tasks vary in size and direction depending on the nature of the task, with large differences favoring males on tasks that require transformations in visuospatial working memory. The cognitive processes underlying these differences were investigated using laboratory tasks developed by Dror and Kosslyn (1994). Four cognitive components of visuospatial working memory were assessed—image generation, maintenance, scanning, and transformation—in an attempt to identify the components that would show differential effects for females and males. The image generation task required retrieval of shape information from long-term memory, generation of a visual image in working memory, and utilization of the information about the shape in a decision task. The image maintenance task required only the latter two processes. The information processing demands required by scanning and rotation tasks came from the need to transform the visual image so that it could be used in decision making. Males responded more quickly on all four tasks (ds between .63 and .77), with no between-sex differences in accuracy. We concluded that speed of processing is central to understanding sex differences in visuospatial working memory. We discuss implications of these findings for performance on real-world visuospatial tasks.

Cognitive Abilities in the Service of Wayfinding: A Functional Approach

Abstract: A functionally oriented framework for examining the cognitive abilities that are involved in human wayfinding is suggested. The framework includes a categorical distinction among types of wayfinding tasks (commutes, explores, and quests) and means used most frequently to accomplish these tasks (piloting, repetition of locomotor pattern, path integration, and navigation by cognitive map). The cognitive abilities contributing to these wayfinding means have been demonstrated by research on spatial cognition and behavior or can be inferred from relevant research and theory.

Imagery Deficits in Nonverbal Learning Disabilities

Abstract: This study reports the observations gathered from 11 children referred to consulting services because of learning difficulties at school and diagnosed with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD). These children had an average verbal IQ, but a WISC-R performance IQ lower than the verbal IQ by at least 15 points and experienced difficulties especially in mathematics and drawing. The children completed a battery of four tasks requiring visuospatial working memory and visual imagery: a memory task composed of pictures and their positions (Pictures task), a task that required them to memorize the positions filled in a matrix (Passive Matrix task), a task that required them to imagine a pathway along a matrix (Active Matrix task) and a task that required them to learn groups made up of three words, using a visual interactive imagery strategy (TV task). In comparison to a control group of 49 children, children with NVLD scored lower in all the tasks, showing deficits in the use of visuospatial working memory and visual imagery. By contrasting subgroups of children of different ages in the control group, it was possible to show that some tasks did not show a clear developmental trend. Thus the deficits shown by the children with NVLD cannot simply be attributed to a developmental delay of these children, but seem to reflect a more severe disability.

Cognitive, Musical and Environmental Correlates of Early Music Instruction

Abstract: This study investigated the effects of early music instruction on music perception skills as well as specific areas of cognitive development (non-verbal/spatial abilities). Participants were 29 chi...

Gender Differences in Acquisition of Environmental Knowledge Related to Wayfinding Behavior, Spatial Anxiety and Self-Estimated Environmental Competencies.

Abstract: This study investigated gender differences inwayfinding and representation of an unfamiliar building.Thirty-two white German adults (undergraduates,graduates, academic staff, carpenters, social workers) carried out three wayfinding runs, eachfollowed by a representation task either of drawing amap or of writing a description of the environment.Self-estimation of spatial anxiety and environmentalcompetencies was assessed before the task. Men recalled moreroute directions in maps and descriptions than women.Independent from element quantity, women preferredlandmarks to route directions under both conditions. Men preferred mixed representations withsimilar proportions of landmarks and route directions intheir first and second representation and showed a weaklandmark preference only in the last representation. Route direction preferences related to higherspeed in wayfinding (more men) and higherself-estimation of wayfinding competence. Landmarkpreferences related, in women only, to higherself-estimated levels of spatial anxiety. Speed in wayfinding,self-estimation of competencies, and spatial anxietyoverlapped predictability of gender on differences inenvironmental representation.

Evidence in support of a model that predicts how biological and environmental factors interact to influence spatial skills.

Abstract: It was proposed, based on M. Annett (1985), that individuals biologically predisposed to poorer spatial skills are less likely to capitalize on opportunities to develop these skills. Using an analysis of variance design assessing mental rotation skills in 2 cohorts of 8th graders (365 students), the authors found a significant 3-way interaction (Brothers × Family Handedness × Gender). For the girls with brothers, those from all right-handed families had lower mental rotation scores than did the other girls. For the 2nd cohort, among those children who participated in mental-rotation-type activities with their brothers, both boys and girls from all right-handed families performed more poorly on the mental rotation test than did the other children with brothers. Thus, compared with other children, the children from all right-handed families do not appear to be able to use their spatial experiences with male siblings to increase their spatial skills.

Spatial ability and transformational geometry

Abstract: New technologies in education are placing more emphasis upon visual and spatial skills, those required to inspect, encode, transform, and construct information in visual displays. They do this by presenting students with learning material embedded in complex visual displays and hypermedia, and by requiring students to navigate through virtual space. These developments make it important for us to learn more about the underlying nature of visuospatial ability, how it is related to academic performance, and how it can be improved.

The Importance of Spatial Structuring in Geometric Reasoning

Abstract: by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. www.nctm.org. All rights reserved. NCTM is not responsible for the accuracy or quality of the translation. __________________________________________________________________________________ ___ ____ ידוסיה ךוניחב הקיטמתמל יצרא םירומ זכרמ http://mathcenter-k6.haifa.ac.il 1 תובישח ןוגרא בחרמה ב תירטמואיג הבישח The Importance of Spatial Structuring in Geometric Reasoning

Development of a Test to Measure Spatial Abilities Associated with Apparel Design and Product Development

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop a test that measures spatial skills relative to product development and apparel design. To provide some support for content validity, the test included components of spatial products, spatial storage, and spatial thought. As evidence of the type of spatial ability measured by the test, an established test that measures spatial relations (Differential Aptitude Test-Space Relations) (DATSR) was correlated with the newly developed test. To provide preliminary statistical data regarding the test, a between-subjects design study was conducted with clothing construction/patternmaking training (none, some) as the independent variable. Dependent variables were the Apparel Spatial Visualization Test (ASVT) and the DATSR. To evidence content validity of the test, scores on the ASVT should reflect improvement in spatial abilities as a function of training. Students with some training scored higher on the ASVT but did not differ in their scores on the DATSR compared to those w...

Contribution of students' mathematical skills and spatial ability of achievement in secondary school physics

Abstract: This study investigates the contribution of mathematical skills and spatial ability to achievement in secondary school physics. Sixty-eight lOth grade students from a high school in Ankara were given mathematical skill test (MST), spatial ability tests (SAT) and physics achievement test (PAT). Correlational analysis showed that the correlation coefficient for mathematical skills and physics achievement was 0.46 (p<0.05), and for spatial ability and physics achievement was 0.45 (p<0.05). To see the combined contribution of mathematies and spatial ability to physics achievement, multiple regression analysis was applied. The results showed that the contribution of the two predictor variables (mathematical skills and spatial ability) accounted for almost 31 % of the variance in the physics achievement test scores.

Music Exposure and the Development of Spatial Intelligence in Children.

Abstract: A serious challenge facing music cognition researchers is the problem of how to fit the discipline into traditional theories of child development, theories that do not easily account for the huge range of reasoning and behaviors used by people performing musical activities. In Frames of Mind, Howard Gardner (1983) has drawn from a wide body of knowledge to provide us with a new framework for thinking about cognition a framework that holds a special place for music. Musical ability is seen as its own discrete domain of intelligence, not particularly associated with linguistic, mathematical, or spatial intelligence. However, despite the fact that music appears to be a distinct area of learning that may be unrelated to other developmental accomplishments of young children, musical abilities and certain spatial abilities do seem to be allied. It seems that musical experiences, perhaps due to neurophysiological mechanisms, can help develop a small but important facet of spatial ability in adults, children, and even in rats. This paper presents my colleagues' and my recent research on the effects of music instruction on a specific type of spatial reasoning, spatial-temporal reasoning, in children.

Students' Use of Imagery in Solving Qualitative Problems in Kinematics.

Abstract: This report describes a study that investigated the relationship between mental imagery and problem solving in physics, specifically in kinematics. A distinction is made between visual imagery and spatial imagery used in solving physics problems. The results of this study indicate that while spatial imagery may promote problem solving success, the use of visual imagery presents an obstacle to problem solving in kinematics. (Contains 23 references.) (WRM) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** Students' Use of Imagery in Solving Qualitative Problems in Kinematics by Maria Kozhevnikov Mary Hegarty Richard Mayer PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY \LAMT\ktea\f TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 BEST COPY AVAll[ABLE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) his document has been reproduced as r ed from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Students' Use of Imagery in Solving Qualitative Problems in Kinematics Maria Kozhevnikov, Mary Hegarty, Richard Mayer, UC Santa Barbara Objectives Historically, there is much evidence that mental imagery plays a central role in physics conceptualization processes and in scientific discoveries. Research that analyzes the processes of physics discoveries such as Galileo's laws of motion, Maxwell's laws, Faraday's electromagnetic field theory, or Einstein's theory of relativity, emphasizes the extensive use of visual/spatial images and their crucial function in these discoveries (Miller, 1986; Nersessian, 1995; Shepard, 1996). This gives rise to the idea that mental images also play an important role in students' physics learning and problem solving. The main goal of this study is to investigate the relationship between imagery and problem solving in physics, specifically in kinematics. The domain of physics chosen for the purpose of this study is kinematics, which describes the motion of objects without regard to mass. Kinematics was chosen because of its dependence on a diversity of visual/spatial representations, including graphical schematic representations (e.g., vectors of force or velocity or graphs of motion) as well as concrete physical representations (e.g., blocks, pulleys, or springs). Theoretical Framework In the physics education literature surprisingly little attention has been paid to understanding the role of imagery in problem solving processes. Research that investigates the differences between expert and novice problem solving in physics focuses mostly on verbal aspects of problem representation and semantic knowledge of physics laws (Larkin, 1982; Chi & Glaser, 1988; Ericsson & Smith, 1991). It has been noted that diagrammatic representations "can support extremely useful and efficient computational processes" (Larkin & Simon, 1987, p. 99) during problem solving, but this claim has not been tested empirically. Furthermore, the United States Employment Service includes physics in the list of occupations requiring a high level of spatial ability, i.e. the ability to perform spatial transformations with mental images or their lU 1