The Matrix Analogies Test measures nonverbal ability of handicapped and nonhandicapped children, ages 5-17, in a culture-fair fashion. It assesses pattern completion, reasoning by analogy, serial reasoning, and spatial visualization, with a short form available as a screening instrument. This paper describes the test's administration, format,…

Discusses sketch maps that are free-hand maps drawn from memory that help to organize spatial information. Demonstrates how teachers can use sketch map activities in their classrooms and provides examples of students' maps that illustrate progressive levels of learning world place location. (DB)

Raises questions regarding what students are perceiving when concrete models are used to represent abstract scientific concepts. Discussion of several exploratory investigations on the role of models in science teaching is presented in three areas: (1) interactions with students; (2) effectiveness of models; and (3) spatial ability and models.…

Examined, over a 10-year span, continuity in individual differences in cross-modal transfer to visually recognized shapes that had previously been felt but not seen. Found that cross-modal performance showed a left-hand advantage at 11 years. Cross-age correlations were significant when tactual exploration at 11 years was done with the left hand.…

Explains the work of a primary-research group focusing on the practical aspects of the use of scale in science. Reports on three studies that look at the impact of the representation of scale in different areas related to the Standard Assessment Tasks (SAT). (DDR)

Tested the spatial ability of 423 sixth-grade students in international schools around the world, using the Institute for Academic Advancement of Youth's Spatial Test Battery (STB). Results showed the STB's ability to predict the future academic success of sixth graders, regardless of their familiarity with English. (MLH)

Thirty Native American children (mean age=10.3 years), 15 identified with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and 15 controls, were asked to recall places and objects in a task previously shown to be sensitive to memory skills in individuals with and without mental retardation. Children with FAS demonstrated a spatial but not an object memory impairment.…

Investigates the hypothesis that preservice teachers specializing in science and mathematics will score significantly higher on spatial ability tests than other preservice teachers. Also investigates gender-related differences in spatial ability. Contains 26 references. (DDR)

Describes an innovation designed to capitalize on certain benefits of concept maps. Uses computer software with preservice teachers to enable them to construct concept maps that represent their own subject matter knowledge. Contains 21 references. (DDR)

Observation of 56 American Indian students in grades 9-10, including 45 Navajo speakers, during open-ended mathematical patterning exercises revealed that students did not produce typically symmetrical patterns and that their patterns demonstrated a deep command of transformational geometry. The influence of Navajo language and culture are…

A teacher describes the frustrations of an intelligent, learning-disabled fourth-grader who cannot pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System despite standard academic accommodations. The teacher advocates development of alternative or "nonstandard" accommodations and tests that assess students' spatial, problem-solving, and…

In a computerized video-game-like spatial ability measure administered to 94 university students, the number of target hits was correlated with verbal intelligence quotient. The dynamic spatial measure does not load substantially on a general intellectual ability factor, but it does provide additional evidence that dynamic spatial ability is…

Describes the DISCOVER assessment process, a method designed to identify gifted learners by documenting students' problem-solving abilities in several of Gardner's multiple intelligences, including spatial, mathematical, linguistic, intrapersonal, bodily kinesthetic, and interpersonal. Examples of problems presented to students in grades six…

Prepositions have different but related senses. In cognitive semantics, figurative senses are extended from spatial senses through conceptual metaphors. Pedagogically, it is useful to draw learners' attention to those aspects of a preposition's spatial sense that are especially relevant for its metaphorization. Ways in which cognitive semantic…

Map making is an exercise in spatial relationships, perspective, and direction, and also can increase students' knowledge of their community and sense of place. In a Roger Tory Peterson Institute program, children map the environment around their school and simultaneously learn science, mathematics, language arts, and social studies. Describes…