Spatial Thinking in Practice: A snapshot of teacher’s spatial activity use in the early years’ classroom.

Abstract

Spatial thinking predicts Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics achievement, yet is often absent from educational policy. We provide the first benchmarks of teachers’ usage and perceptions of spatial activities in practice in the reception classroom. Using a questionnaire study with educational professionals working in the reception (4-5 years) classroom in England (N=104), we found that spatial and numeracy activities were perceived as significantly less important, and were completed significantly less often, than literacy or life skills. Given the lack of focus on spatial skills in the curriculum guidance in England, rates of spatial activity use were encouragingly high and were broadly comparable to those of numeracy. Teachers’ anxiety levels were moderate for both spatial and mathematics domains. The findings highlight a need to elevate teacher’s understanding of the importance of developing children’s early spatial and numeracy skills, which may begin with efforts to reduce spatial and mathematics anxiety.

Understanding how educational maths apps can enhance learning: A content analysis and qualitative comparative analysis

“…The included apps primarily targeted basic skills in understanding number representations and relationships ( n = 21) with number representation with Arabic digits, verbal and/or written number word recognition as the most common ( n = 19) (see Table S2). This is also consistent with previous research showing a greater emphasis on basic counting skills in the classroom (von Spreckelsen et al, 2019) and a relatively reduced focus on spatial skills in formal classroom activities (Gilligan‐Lee et al, 2022). However, mathematical development is complex and consists of a broad range of skills that children need to master (Butterworth, 2005; Clements & Sarama, 2009; Gilmore et al, 2018).…”

Navigating ‘the bumpy road’ from research to practice: Improving the impact of research on spatial reasoning practice with young children

“…Whilst SR does now feature in the statutory educational programme for birth to fiveyear-olds in England, 'shape, space and measures' was removed from the statutory early learning goals in mathematics for the end of this phase of a child's education (DfE, 2021), something which is likely to 'reduce the emphasis' in practice, according to a finding from the pilot study of the new goals (Husain et al, 2019, p.22). It is therefore unsurprising that in another study (N=104), we found that practitioners working with 4-5-year-olds perceive spatial and numeracy activities as less important than literacy and life skills and completed these activities less frequently (Gilligan-Lee et al, 2023)…”

Practitioners' perspectives on spatial reasoning in educational practice from birth to 7 years

“…Participants were first asked how frequently they used each of 18 activities (12 spatial and 6 non‐spatial, presented in fixed random order, adapted from Gilligan‐Lee et al. ( 2022 ) in their practice using 6 possible response options, ranging from ‘More than once a day’ to ‘Not at all’ as shown in Figure 1 . This question was deliberately posed before any questions that asked about spatial reasoning, to avoid introducing bias.…”