Elementary school students (N=144) determined which set of pictures looked to them the way a set of blocks looked to a second observer from different perspectives. Results indicated that correct spatial judgments were facilitated when a landmark was present. (Author/DB)

States that imagery is increasingly recognized as important in children's sense-making activities in mathematics. Presents an example of Elaine, a fifth-grade student who used her well-developed spatial sense in solving a nonroutine mathematics task. Illustrates some direct connections between a student's use of imagination and the ability to…

Discusses assumptions implicit in any system of measurement. Describes a three-rectangle problem designed to help children explore additivity of areas and relationships between area and shape. Suggests ideas for action research. (FDR)

Explains standard drawing layouts and rules for creating orthographic and isometric views of a three-dimensional object. Normal and inclined surfaces are also discussed. Concludes with recommended classroom activities. Includes reproducible student worksheets. (FDR)

Two studies examined whether 4-year-olds' difficulty using relational information in spatial tasks was due, in part, to their inability to deal with situations where both objective and egocentric cues were available and pointed to different responses. Findings indicated that the presence of conflict significantly affected children's performance in…

A new analysis, based on the concept of the ideal observer in signal detection theory, is described. It allows: tracing of the flow of discrimination information through the initial physiological stages of visual processing for arbitrary spatio-chromatic stimuli, and measurement of the information content of said visual stimuli. (TJH)

Results indicate that seven-month-old infants are sensitive to the depth cues of linear perspective and texture gradients. Self-produced locomotor experience is not necessary for the development of sensitivity to static-monocular depth information. (RJC)

Debate over whether mental images are visual or spatial representations is seen as based on the false premise that they must be one or the other. Visual neurophysiological research and experiments with a brain-damaged patient (impaired visual representations) suggest that mental imagery has distinct visual and spatial representation components.…

The longitudinal study of 70 children with reading disabilities (followed over four years) and 35 reading disabled children (followed for eight-point-six years) found that rate of improvement in reading and spatial reasoning in disabled and normal children was similar but that reading disability tended to persist into young adulthood. (DB)

Characterizes specific spatial abilities required in geology studies through the examination of the performance of high school students in solving structural geology problems on the geologic spatial ability test (GeoSAT). Concludes that visual penetration ability and the ability to perceive the spatial configuration of the structure are…

In 3 studies, 2.5- and 3-year-olds transferred knowledge from an easy task that required appreciation of a symbolic relation to a more difficult task involving a symbolic relation that children their age typically do not appreciate. Results support the theory that young children use insight into one symbolic relation to understand other symbolic…

Spatial capacities of 36 children ages 5-6 were tested in 3 experiments involving an electronic maze, map training and testing, and finding the way out of a cave using a map. All subjects could use simple maps; this ability improved with age. However, no subject navigated the cave without help, perhaps because of stress or task complexity. (SV)

Four experiments investigated 4-, 6-, and 9-month-old infants' ability to perceive whether the width relationship between a block and the opening of a box specified passing through or support. Found that six- and nine-month olds looked significantly longer than four-month olds when a block wider than a box opening passed through this opening. (MDM)

This article describes a theory of computations underlying the selection of coordinated motion patterns, especially in reaching tasks. The central idea is that stored postures are evaluated for the contributions they make to reaching a spatial target. The model explains a number of aspects of movement kinematics. (SLD)

This article reports the measurement of the "veering tendency" of 4 blind pedestrians over 3 15-trial test sessions. Findings illustrate between-subject and within-subject differences in patterns of veering, and the implications of these differences for orientation and mobility instruction are discussed. (Author)