Spatial Training Improves Children's Mathematics Ability

• Published in: Journal of cognition and development Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 2 - 11
• Main Authors: Cheng, Yi-Ling, Mix, Kelly S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Colchester Taylor & Francis Group 01.01.2014; Psychology Press; Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Children; Children & youth; Cognitive Processes; Computation; Control Groups; Correlation; Developmental psychology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Mathematics; Mathematics Skills; Michigan; Numeracy; Outcomes of Education; Pretests Posttests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Puzzles; Scores; Spatial Ability; Spatial Relations Test; Statistical Analysis; Task Analysis; Teaching Methods; Training; Michigan; Human; Mental rotation; School age; Spatial ability; Cognition; Mathematics; Cognitive development; Experimental study; Child; Psychological training
• ISSN: 1524-8372; 1532-7647
• DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2012.725186

We tested whether mental rotation training improved math performance in 6- to 8-year-olds. Children were pretested on a range of number and math skills. Then one group received a single session of mental rotation training using an object completion task that had previously improved spatial ability in children this age (Ehrlich, Levine, & Goldin-Meadow, 2006 ). The remaining children completed crossword puzzles instead. Children's posttest scores revealed that those in the spatial training group improved significantly on calculation problems. In contrast, children in the control group did not improve on any math tasks. Further analyses revealed that the spatial training group's improvement was largely due to better performance on missing term problems (e.g., 4 + ____ = 11).