Why spatial is special in education, learning, and everyday activities

Ishikawa, Takumi; Newcombe, Nora S.

doi:10.1186/s41235-021-00274-5

Cited by 25 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…One of the human abilities is spatial ability , which is defined as “the perception and retention of visual forms and the mental manipulation and reconstruction of visual shapes” (Eliot & Smith, 1983 , p. 9). Recently, the significance of spatial ability has attracted attention in the context of academic learning and everyday activities (Ishikawa & Newcombe, 2021 ; Newcombe, 2010 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Differences and Skill Training in Cognitive Mapping: How and Why People Differ

Ishikawa

2022

Topics in Cognitive Science

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Spatial ability plays important roles in academic learning and everyday activities. A type of spatial thinking that is of particular significance to people's daily lives is cognitive mapping, that is, the process of acquiring, representing, and using knowledge about spatial environments. However, the skill of cognitive mapping shows large individual differences, and the task of spatial orientation and navigation poses great difficulty for some people. In this article, I look at the motivation and findings in the research into spatial knowledge acquisition from an individual differences perspective. I also discuss major implications of the existence of large individual differences, particularly the possibility of improving cognitive mapping by training and adjusting navigation assistance to the wide variations in spatial aptitudes and preferences among people.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual Differences and Skill Training in Cognitive Mapping: How and Why People Differ

Ishikawa

2022

Topics in Cognitive Science

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“…Although the reasons for this are not fully clear, we are inclined to conclude that our procedure has counteracted an existing attentional bias in our female rats. The present results could have important implications for women as, in general, they seem to have less spatial abilities than men (for a whole thematic series addressed to answer responses of why spatial abilities are crucial in education, learning, and everyday activities see Ishikawa and Newcombe, 2021 ). Spatial abilities correlate significantly with STEM (acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines, as well as with the choice of future careers and occupations; and most importantly, they can be learned!…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Previous Experience Seems Crucial to Eliminate the Sex Gap in Geometry Learning When Solving a Navigation Task in Rats (Rattus norvegicus)

et al. 2022

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There is much evidence, both in humans and rodents, that while navigating males tend to use geometric information whereas females rely more on landmarks. The present work attempts to alter the geometry bias in female rats. In Experiment 1 three groups of female rats were trained in a triangular-shaped pool to find a hidden platform, whose location was defined in terms of two sources of information, a landmark outside the pool and a particular corner of the pool. On a subsequent test trial with the triangular pool and no landmark, females with prior experience with two other pool shapes–with a kite-shaped pool and with a rectangular-shaped pool (Group Long Previous Experience, LPE), were significantly more accurate than control rats without such prior experience (Group No Previous Experience, NPE). Rats with a short previous experience–with the rectangular-shaped pool only (Group Short Previous Experience, SPE) did not differ from Group NPE. These results suggest that the previous experience with different shaped-pools could counteract the geometry bias in female rats. Then, Experiment 2A directly compared the performance of LPE males and females of Experiment 1, although conducting several test trials (i.e., shape, landmark, and preference). The differences between males and females disappeared in the three tests. Moreover, in a final test trial both males and females could identify the correct corner in an incomplete pool by its local, instead of global, properties. Finally, Experiment 2B compared the performance of NPE rats, males and females, of Experiment 1. On the test trial with the triangular pool and no landmark, males were significantly more accurate than females. The results are explained in the framework of selective attention.

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“…Several studies [22][23][24][25] examined connections between spatial capabilities (mental rotation and perspective-taking) and geometrical thinking related to symmetry and how visualisation and mental rotation might be related to geometrical figure apprehension (perceptual and operative). Researchers such as [26][27][28][29] define spatial skills as core cognitive skills that include spatial visualisation, form perception and visual-spatial working memory. These authors further noted that spatial visualisation refers to learner's ability to imagine and mentally transform spatial information, while form perception is the ability to copy and distinguish shapes from other shapes, including symbols.…”

Section: Spatial Visualisation and Spatial Orientationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, for question 1 (98%), PSTs were required to find the length of the line joining 2 points, in which they used the distance formula √(𝑥 2 − 𝑥 1 ) 2 + (𝑦 2 − 𝑦 1 ) 2 to find the answer. Although [32] allude that processes of spatial thinking may include low levels of thinking, such as recognizing, defining, and listing, [29] foregrounded that spatial thinking should enshrine advanced thinking of a spatial nature, based on expert knowledge. It is possible that pre-service teachers could just use the formula that they internalised before, without clear conception of the formula, and this conflicts [44]'s definition of spatial ability.…”

Section: Quantitative Analysis Of Spatial and Content Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Visual-spatial Skills and Mathematics Content Conceptualisation for Pre-service Teachers

Makamure

Jojo

2021

IJSME

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Empirical evidence in literature identified significant association between spatial ability and educational performance particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The purpose of this study was to explore pre-service teachers’ spatial skills in solving mathematics problems, in the context of coordinate geometry. It is envisaged that spatial skills allow for the perception of visual information and, therefore, spatial cognition has been considered as a key skill in teaching mathematics. However, literature asserts that teachers are ill prepared to teach mathematics, hence there is limited use and misuse of spatial skills in teaching the subject. This study, therefore, examines the spatial orientation of pre-service teachers in teaching coordinate geometry. This is a mixed methods study in which pre-service teachers answered a coordinate geometry test to explore their content knowledge and their ability to interpret, analyse and apply visual spatial models to solve mathematical problems in coordinate geometry. The study established that the spatial orientation skills of pre-service teachers determine their performance in mathematics, especially coordinate geometry.

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Why spatial is special in education, learning, and everyday activities

Cited by 25 publications

References 24 publications

Individual Differences and Skill Training in Cognitive Mapping: How and Why People Differ

Individual Differences and Skill Training in Cognitive Mapping: How and Why People Differ

Previous Experience Seems Crucial to Eliminate the Sex Gap in Geometry Learning When Solving a Navigation Task in Rats (Rattus norvegicus)

Visual-spatial Skills and Mathematics Content Conceptualisation for Pre-service Teachers

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