A longitudinal study of spatial skills and number sense development in elementary school children.

Carr, Martha; Horan, Erin; Alexeev, Natalia; Barned, Nicole; Wang, Lu; Otumfuor, Beryl

doi:10.1037/edu0000363

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…However, the exact mechanisms of this growth are very difficult to identify. Multiple predictors of SA growth were suggested in the literature, including number sense 58 , interests in spatial activities 59 , and self-perception 60 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No evidence of a positive effect of learning Chinese language as an L2 on spatial ability

Likhanov

Bogdanova

Alenina

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Spatial ability (SA) was shown to be a robust predictor of success in various educational contexts, including STEM. Thus, ways to improve SA are of interest to educational psychology. There is some evidence that SA might be improved via learning character-based language, e.g. Chinese as a second language (CSL), however, the existing research is quite limited. The study aims to investigate an effect of CSL learning on SA in schoolchildren from Year 2 to Year 7. Current study employs a sample of Russian schoolchildren (N = 283), who learnt: English only, English and Spanish; or English and Chinese. Participants completed Raven’s progressive matrices and Mental rotation task at the age of 8 and again at the age of 14. Our data showed negligible group differences in the initial SA level at Year 2 (before learning second language). Similar negligible differences were found at Year 7. Regression analysis showed that SA was predicted by intelligence (Raven’s) and gender but not language learnt at both ages. This pattern of results indicates that learning a Chinese as a second language is unlikely to affect SA. Further research is needed to investigate whether other factors, such as length, intensity and context of learning, moderate this link.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No evidence of a positive effect of learning Chinese language as an L2 on spatial ability

Likhanov

Bogdanova

Alenina

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…However, creating a truly process‐pure task is difficult. Thus, researchers can leverage a bifactor model approach to derive more precise scores (e.g., Carr et al., 2020) for both the primary PT dimension and the subdomains separately. Second, for situations in which IRT is not feasible, the psychometric characteristics of each task reported here indicated that PTT‐A, PPTT, or SOT may be used on their own as robust, reliable, and valid measures of PT ability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Spatial Perspective Taking: Analysis of Four Measures Using Item Response Theory

Brucato¹,

Frick²,

Pichelmann³

et al. 2022

Topics in Cognitive Science

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Research on spatial thinking requires reliable and valid measures of individual differences in various component skills. Spatial perspective taking (PT)—the ability to represent viewpoints different from one's own—is one kind of spatial skill that is especially relevant to navigation. This study had two goals. First, the psychometric properties of four PT tests were examined: Four Mountains Task (FMT), Spatial Orientation Task (SOT), Perspective‐Taking Task for Adults (PTT‐A), and Photographic Perspective‐Taking Task (PPTT). Using item response theory (IRT), item difficulty, discriminability, and efficiency of item information functions were evaluated. Second, the relation of PT scores to general intelligence, working memory, and mental rotation (MR) was assessed. All tasks showed good construct validity except for FMT. PPTT tapped a wide range of PT ability, with maximum measurement precision at average ability. PTT‐A captured a lower range of ability. Although SOT contributed less measurement information than other tasks, it did well across a wide range of PT ability. After controlling for general intelligence and working memory, original and IRT‐refined versions of PT tasks were each related to MR. PTT‐A and PPTT showed relatively more divergent validity from MR than SOT. Tests of dimensionality indicated that PT tasks share one common PT dimension, with secondary task‐specific factors also impacting the measurement of individual differences in performance. Advantages and disadvantages of a hybrid PT test that includes a combination of items across tasks are discussed.

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“…Our analysis also revealed evidence of substantial performance variability from 4-to 7-years-of-age (Figure 4), potentially highlighting assessment points for longer-term individual difference studies, as well as possible targets for memory intervention. Given the ease of online testing and the importance of VWM to several aspects of math and cognitive performance (Jarvis and Gathercole, 2003;Bull, 2008;Tsubomi and Watanabe, 2017;Giofrè et al, 2018;Allen et al, 2019;Chan and Wong, 2019;Kyttälä et al, 2019;Carr et al, 2020), adding a quick at-home assessment as part of a school, medical, or lab assessment might provide a more detailed developmental profile.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, others have found that VWM in 7-to 14-year-olds predicted performance on a national curriculum math test (Jarvis and Gathercole, 2003). These basic findings have now been replicated numerous times, with most results demonstrating an important connection between early VWM and later math achievement (Tsubomi and Watanabe, 2017;Giofrè et al, 2018;Allen et al, 2019;Chan and Wong, 2019;Kyttälä et al, 2019;Carr et al, 2020). VWM in adults is related to measures of fluid intelligence (Fukuda et al, 2010), and the development of VWM is distinct from verbal WM (Gathercole and Baddeley, 1993;Jarvis and Gathercole, 2003;Giofrè et al, 2018;Kyttälä et al, 2019) and executive function aspects of WM (Jarvis and Gathercole, 2003;Gathercole et al, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Unsupervised Online Assessment of Visual Working Memory in 4- to 10-Year-Old Children: Array Size Influences Capacity Estimates and Task Performance

2021

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The events of the COVID-19 Pandemic forced many psychologists to abandon lab-based approaches and embrace online experimental techniques. Although lab-based testing will always be the gold standard of experimental precision, several protocols have evolved to enable supervised online testing for paradigms that require direct observation and/or interaction with participants. However, many tasks can be completed online in an unsupervised way, reducing reliance on lab-based resources (e.g., personnel and equipment), increasing flexibility for families, and reducing participant anxiety and/or demand characteristics. The current project demonstrates the feasibility and utility of unsupervised online testing by incorporating a classic change-detection task that has been well-validated in previous lab-based research. In addition to serving as proof-of-concept, our results demonstrate that large online samples are quick and easy to acquire, facilitating novel research questions and speeding the dissemination of results. To accomplish this, we assessed visual working memory (VWM) in 4- to 10-year-old children in an unsupervised online change-detection task using arrays of 1–4 colored circles. Maximum capacity (max K) was calculated across the four array sizes for each child, and estimates were found to be on-par with previously published lab-based findings. Importantly, capacity estimates varied markedly across array size, with estimates derived from larger arrays systematically underestimating VWM capacity for our youngest participants. A linear mixed effect analysis (LME) confirmed this observation, revealing significant quadratic trends for 4- through 7-year-old children, with capacity estimates that initially increased with increasing array size and subsequently decreased, often resulting in estimates that were lower than those obtained from smaller arrays. Follow-up analyses demonstrated that these regressions may have been based on explicit guessing strategies for array sizes perceived too difficult to attempt for our youngest children. This suggests important interactions between VWM performance, age, and array size, and further suggests estimates such as optimal array size might capture both quantitative aspects of VWM performance and qualitative effects of attentional engagement/disengagement. Overall, findings suggest that unsupervised online testing of VWM produces reasonably good estimates and may afford many benefits over traditional lab-based testing, though efforts must be made to ensure task comprehension and compliance.

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A longitudinal study of spatial skills and number sense development in elementary school children.

Cited by 11 publications

References 98 publications

No evidence of a positive effect of learning Chinese language as an L2 on spatial ability

No evidence of a positive effect of learning Chinese language as an L2 on spatial ability

Measuring Spatial Perspective Taking: Analysis of Four Measures Using Item Response Theory

Unsupervised Online Assessment of Visual Working Memory in 4- to 10-Year-Old Children: Array Size Influences Capacity Estimates and Task Performance

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