Stresses the importance of visualization in mathematics education by reviewing research dealing with the relationship between mathematical and spatial ability, and recommends that such findings be incorporated into mathematics instruction. (JJD)

The relationships among preferred handedness, family history of sinistrality, sex of subject, and spatial visualization were examined in college students. Males outperformed females at all levels of handedness when measured as a continuous variable. Extreme handedness was associated with poorest performance. Decreased hemispheric specialization…

It was hypothesized that the experimentation and problem solving involved in design lessons were consistent with features of intellectual development stressed by Piaget. An experimental group (27 students) received art lessons stressing spatial concepts and manipulations. Controls studied art conventionally. Experimentals were superior on some of…

Some ways of thinking and acting geometrically are described which are related to the approach used by ancient humans. The focus is on intuitive geometric imagery, an attempt to resurrect a way of describing possible viewpoints of geometry outside of those commonly accepted. (MP)

Children and adults were asked to place something "in front of" or "behind" a featured or nonfeatured object. Most subjects responded to the object's inherent features. A significant number of adults used the observer orientation cue. Children had more difficulty with the nonfeatured object but also used the observer…

The effects of a networking learning strategy upon facilitating the learning of field-dependent students are investigated. Results indicate that the strategy improves learning behavior of the field dependents on list learning and spatial learning. Learning behavior of field independents and field dependents is also compared. (Author/AEF)

Children are seen to need positive experiences with spatial words in order to be successful at understanding the concepts. If teaching methods used are mindful of the intricacies of understanding spatial communication, pupils will have the necessary positive initial experiences. Teaching suggestions for achieving positive effects are detailed. (MP)

Children ages 4, 8, 12, 16, and adults responded to 24 paintings concerning three subject matters and varying in realism and space depiction. Five-factor analysis of variance indicated that the triple interaction of subject matter, realism, and spatial depth was significant for all. Preferences are discussed by age group. (SJL)

Two experiments using varying duration exposures related reading skill in adults to initial encoding of location information. Results suggest that the role of perception in reading has been underestimated because emphasis has been on item perception, not perception of spatial location. (Author/CP)

A 3D mental rotation task was used to measure spatial performance in boys and girls in Ghana and Scotland. Sex differences of equal magnitude appeared in both cultures. In light of these findings, the author discusses genetic and environmental theories of spatial ability and the problems in testing such skills. (SJL)

The study evaluated the hypothesis that familial left-handed children, who presumably have bilateral representation of language ability, should show an impairment in spatial abiblity on 44 children (22 right handed, 11 familial left handed, and 11 nonfamilial left handed) whose average age was 8 years old. (Author/PHR)

Presents a ping-pong activity to teach the coordinate plane that puts students in a position to experience and relate to the coordinate plane in a manner that evokes their visual, spatial, and physical senses while linking the plane with a familiar object. (ASK)

Examined the effects of using Logo or problem-solving oriented simulation software on the spatial and critical thinking skills of fifth graders. Found that the Logo group had a significant pretest-posttest change in spatial scores, and the Simulation group had a significant pretest-posttest change in critical thinking scores. No significant change…

The effects of four different instructional formats (orthographic drawing, isometric drawing, physical model, and isometric and physical model together) on learning outcomes and strategies for spatial tasks were studied with 40 secondary students. Findings indicate that physical models cause the least extraneous cognitive load. (SLD)

An 18-item "Shortened Visuospatial Questionnaire" (SVS) was validated twice, first by verifying that children (ages 8-13) identified with the SVS questionnaire as having visuospatial learning disability (VSLD) (n=54) actually showed visuospatial deficits on psychometric evaluation, and second, by rating with the SVS a clinically identified…