Discusses important lessons on the mathematics of manufacturing and how curriculum content and teaching can prepare students for working. Features concepts such as the importance of spatial and geometric reasoning, problem solving, numbers and computation, and measurement. (ASK)

Describes an activity that integrates art and social studies in which elementary students created a three-dimensional relief map of their home state of Michigan (United States) using salt dough. Explains that by creating three-dimensional relief maps students expand their spatial skills. Provides directions for making salt dough. (CMK)

Discusses the factors that seem to be significant in the development of visualization skills, and examines gender differences in background and visualization ability for students enrolled in United States, German, and Polish technical universities. Findings indicate significant differences in spatial visualization ability between male and female…

Presents an activity involving students in the creation of polyhedra which enables them to understand the characteristics and develop a clear definition of different polyhedra for themselves. This activity helps develop spatial ability by encouraging students to experiment with creating models of polyhedra while using a wide variety of polygons…

Considers how the use of graphic organizers helps students understand difficult concepts about literacy. Notes that graphic and other visual organizers help students to understand interconcept relationships by presenting the information spatially. Describes the four-square strategy which integrates specific aspects of phonics instruction,…

Describes a second-grade art activity called "The Name Game" in which the students create letter people around the letters of their names. Helps teachers and students get acquainted at the beginning of a new year. Explains that students review old art concepts while simultaneously learning new ones. Provides directions, diagrams, and specifies…

Explains that in order for students to understand statistics, they must develop their spatial and visual skills for manipulating numerical data. Describes the use of an inexpensive, low-tech teaching device that is constructed of modeling clay and cardboard in order to overcome this visual barrier when teaching a blind student statistical…

Determined the effects of classroom music instruction featuring the keyboard on the spatial-temporal reasoning of 62 kindergartners assigned to keyboard or no music conditions. Found that the keyboard group scored significantly higher than the no music group on both spatial-temporal tasks after 4 months of lessons, a difference that was greater in…

Words are only one way of symbolizing ideas. Numbers, pictures, graphs, maps, diagrams, photographs, and other means are also used to convey information. Researchers refer to notational systems such as graphs, diagrams, and maps as "inscriptions." Inscriptions are tools that help people to perceive and to talk about spatial worlds. Spatial…

This article provides a picture of the learning environment that is created for the preservice mathematics teacher and how development of spatial abilities can be incorporated into courses for these students. (Contains 3 figures.)

Spatial visualization is an important skill that deserves instructional attention. Strong evidence supports the claim that "measures of mathematical ability tend to be strongly correlated with spatial ability" (Anderson 2000). Thus, there is every reason to believe that time spent helping students develop their spatial visualization skills will…

Despite the developing infusion of three-dimensional, technological imagery, little has been done to explain the effects of two-dimensional versus three-dimensional imagery on the learning process. This study examined the effects of two-dimensional stimuli and three-dimensional stereoptic stimuli on spatial representation in drawings. A scene was…

Recent experimental research in the field of neurophysiology has led to the discovery of two classes of visuomotor neurons: canonical neurons and mirror neurons. In light of these studies, we propose here an overview of two classical themes in the cognitive science panorama: James Gibson's theory of affordances and Eleanor Rosch's principles of…

Previous research with both brain-damaged and neurologically intact populations has demonstrated that the right cerebral hemisphere (RH) is superior to the left cerebral hemisphere (LH) at detecting anomalies (or incongruities) in objects (Ramachandran, 1995; Smith, Tays, Dixon, & Bulman-Fleming, 2002). The current research assesses whether the RH…

This study examined the effect of incorporating a visuo-haptic and haptic (tactual-kinaesthetic) exploration of letters in a training designed to develop phonemic awareness, knowledge of letters and letter/sound correspondences, on 5-year-old children's understanding and use of the alphabetic principle. Three interventions, which differed in the…