Responds to Claire Golumb's research on the cognitive development of young children's ability to create representations of reality using visual arts. Asserts that young children must find acceptable pictorial substitutes when producing representations. (CFR)

Described are pentonimoe activities which nurture a nonanxious attitude toward math and science, promote an atmosphere of cooperation, support development of problem-solving skills, and provide spatial-ability skill exercises. These activities can be used by students at all educational levels. (KR)

The concepts of distance, area, and the coordinate reference systems were investigated in relation to the displacement volume task among 300 randomly selected primary and high school children in Nigeria. Although results support Piaget's hypothesis, a developmental lag of about two years was observed in Nigerian students. (JN)

Describes a field sketch mapping project conducted with a sixth-grade class. The project involved selecting appropriate sites around the school to map, organizing the students, and instructing them about measuring distances and drawing maps. Illustrations include assignments and examples of students' work. (MJP)

Describes five skills underpinning the understanding of geometry for primary and lower secondary mathematics students. Skill categories identified include (1) visual; (2) verbal; (3) drawing; (4) logical; and (5) application. Gives examples of skills appropriate for Van Hiele levels 1-3. (MDH)

Discussion of spatial skills focuses on a quasi-experimental field study that was designed to test the possibility that elementary and secondary school library users' success in stack searches could be related to a particular spatial skill, i.e., the ability to solve large-scale mental-rotation and perspective-taking problems. (13 references) (LRW)

This book describes the major differences between men and women in cognitive or problem-solving abilities and discusses the possible biological contributions to such differences. The book argues that sex differences in cognitive patterns and in motor skills arose out of complementary evolutionary histories of men and women and that evidence for…

Noting the fascination of both researchers and the general public with possible gender differences in human cognition and whether these differences originate in biology, childhood influences, or cultural stereotypes, this book summarizes research studies on gender differences in cognition. The book examines social and cultural implications of this…

Two studies examined the relationship between children's clay models and the children's concurrent school achievement, and compared a 6-year longitudinal record of achievement test scores for one cohort of students at schools that did or did not provide visual arts instruction. Participating in Study 1 were 201 kindergartners and third graders…

Traces the development of artistic ability in a six-year-old boy with autism and mild mental retardation. Addresses questions concerning autism and artistic development including whether intellectual realism is a necessary precursor to visual realism and whether a two-dimensional photographic memory is used as opposed to three-dimensional…

Socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with cognitive ability and achievement during childhood and beyond. Little is known about the developmental relationships between SES and specific brain systems or their associated cognitive functions. In this study we assessed neurocognitive functioning of kindergarteners from different…

Although geometry and spatial reasoning are important as a way to interpret and reflect on the physical environment and also form the foundation for learning mathematics and other subjects, many early childhood and primary school teachers spend little time instructing their students in these areas. This paper examines how young children learn…

Analyzes the research strategies, stimuli, subjects, statistical strategies, and relative variables in 34 empirical studies on children's representation of three-dimensional objects. The studies fell into three categories: children's representation of spatial relationships within an object, between two objects, and studies that included both. (MJP)

This guide describes 47 number and numeration learning activities that can be used with elementary school students. These activities have been developed using the mathematics laboratory approach. This publication is designed to serve as a stimulant to encourage teachers to open their minds and employ their imagination in developing further…

The researcher conducted a six-month ethnographic study as an apprentice carpenter in Cape Town, South Africa, to document the valid mathematical ideas that are embedded in the everyday woodworking activities of a group of carpenters. A secondary objective was to examine and to give a firsthand account of the teaching and learning of mathematical…