This article presents a teaching intervention where programming was used to facilitate preschoolers' learning of mathematics, especially in their development of spatial thinking. In the intervention, the programming was made with a small programmable robot especially designed for young students. The results indicate that the children developed…

The overall goal of the present study was to develop, implement, and test the effectiveness of a curriculum designed to improve spatial thinking amongst preschool children. Specifically, the study explored the effects of shape-based training on 4-year-old children's ability to disembed and whether the training transferred to improvement in mental…

Learning minimally invasive surgery (MIS) differs substantially from learning open surgery and trainees differ in their ability to learn MIS. Previous studies mainly focused on the role of visuo-spatial ability (VSA) on the learning curve for MIS. In the current study, the relationship between spatial memory, perceptual speed, and general…

Preschool children can navigate by simple geometric maps of the environment, but the nature of the geometric relations they use in map reading remains unclear. Here, children were tested specifically on their sensitivity to angle. Forty-eight children (age 47:15-53:30 months) were presented with fragments of geometric maps, in which angle sections…

Many innovations in organizations result when people discover insightful solutions to problems. Insightful problem-solving was considered by Gestalt psychologists to be associated with productive, as opposed to re-productive, thinking. Productive thinking is characterized by shifts in perspective which allow the problem solver to consider new,…

Visuo-spatial skills are believed to be enhanced in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This meta-analysis tests the current state of evidence for Figure Disembedding, Block Design, Mental Rotation and Navon tasks in ASD and neurotypicals. Block Design (d = 0.32) and Figure Disembedding (d = 0.26) showed superior performance for ASD with large…

This article describes the release of the second edition of "The National Atlas of Korea" (Choe 2015), published in December 2014 by the National Geographic Information Institute (NGII) of South Korea (the Republic of Korea) in both Korean- and English-language versions. This second edition is a major update and improvement over its 2009…

Although relational reasoning has been described as a process at the heart of human cognition, the exact character of relational representations remains an open debate. Symbolic-connectionist models of relational cognition suggest that relations are structured representations, but that they are ultimately grounded in feature sets; thus, they…

We investigated the extent to which the observed gender differences in mental rotation ability among the 2,468 freshmen studying engineering at a Midwest public university attributed to the gender bias of a test. The Revised Purdue Spatial Visualization Tests: Visualization of Rotations (Revised PSVT:R) is a spatial test frequently used to measure…

Linear algebra students are typically introduced to the problem of how to convert from one coordinate system to another in a very abstract way. Often, two bases for a given vector space are provided, and students are taught how to determine a transition matrix to be used for changing coordinates. If students are successful in memorizing this…

Classroom management is an important part of learning to be a teacher. The variation theory of learning provides the insight that it is important to vary the critical aspects of any task or subject that is to be learned. Simulation technology is useful in order to provide a controlled environment for that variation, and text as a medium gives the…

Teaching of critical spatial thinking in higher education empowers graduates to effectively engage with spatial data. Geographic information systems (GIS) and science are taught to undergraduates across many disciplines; we evaluate how this contributes to critical spatial thinking. The discipline of GIS covers the whole process of spatial…

Early calculation abilities in preschoolers are predictive of mathematics achievement in subsequent grades (e.g., Jordan et al. 2009). Two studies were conducted to evaluate concurrent and longitudinal predictors of early calculation skills. In the first study, 102 preschoolers (57.8% female; mean age?=?60.57?±?8.66 months) were given vocabulary,…

The present study was conducted mainly to investigate the applicability of children's conception space presented in Piaget's Cognitive Development theory to Sri Lankan children. The study attempted to identify whether there were variations in Sri Lankan children's conception of space according to the sectors i.e. urban, rural and estate, they live…

Giant maps offer a potentially useful pedagogical tool for teaching mathematics and map skills. In this pilot study, giant maps were distributed to elementary schools in Colorado and New Hampshire and teachers were provided with guided activities designed to integrate mathematics and geography skills. In an assessment of student skills, it was…