Using a map for guiding travel requires: (1) skills in encoding information from a terrain and a map; (2) finding a match between the two; and (3) maintaining the match despite directional shifts from turns on a route. In order to test this analysis, 94 children between the ages of 4 and 6 used maps to locate the route to a goal through a network…

The computer packages of PLOTALL, SYMAP, SURFACE II, QUSMO, QUSMO2, QUCRS, and QUTAB are commercially available plotting programs that provide aids for visualizing spatial distributed data and concepts. The incremental drum and line printer plots communicate often vast and difficult-to-interpret tabular data with or without geographic coordinates.…

The document opens with an editorial comment discussing the role of mathematics in teaching and learning. Then, 13 reports related to mathematics education are abstracted and analyzed. Three of the reports deal with problem solving, and another three look at aspects of cognitive development. There are two each on mathematics instruction,…

Visual acuity as a function of target position and density was measured in a letter recognition task. A homogeneous pattern of equally-spaced elements was tachistoscopically exposed, where the target was never located at the boundaries of the pattern. The target was marked with a spatial cue to control attentional processes. With such a spatial…

If microcomputers are used as automated testing stations, for use in psychometric assessment, there are economic advantages. Discussion follows, however, on whether it is possible to improve the quality of cognitive assessment by extending the range of cognitive abilities to be assessed. Two types of extension are considered: modifying and…

The purpose of this study was to attempt to train the horizontality concept in a group of first graders who were non-operational on the horizontality concept but transitional on what Piaget has termed the precursor concepts of distance and length conservation. There were two groups of subjects (training and control), all of whom had failed a…

The paper describes the successful use of the LOGO System (an interactive graphics, computer based learning environment) with 12 severely physically handicapped adolescents with cerebral palsy. Five goals were set forth concerning the opportunity to work with microcomputers in interesting ways, the assessment of the students' spatial competence,…

Three possible reasons for sex-related differences in science performance of 17 year olds were examined by analyzing total scores in three National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) science booklets. Variables examined included spatial ability, attitudes toward science, and the use of the "I don't know" response. Because of an…

This document briefly reviews four areas of educational inquiry. The first section is concerned with definitions of the terms "spatial ability" and "visual imagery"; the second is concerned with training studies in which attempts have been made to improve spatial ability or to encourage greater use of visual imagery in problem…

Social cognitive abilities were evaluated in 23 deaf students (3 to 6 years old) through tasks requiring spatial perspective taking, cooperation, and receptive language. As hypothesized, language ability proved to be a prediction of both other variables, with the high correlation between language and perspective taking indicating a definite…

A circuit approach and station techniques are used to depict perceptual motor games for handicapped and nonhandicapped children. Twenty activities are described in terms of objectives, materials, and procedures, and their focus on visual tracking, visual discrimination and copying of forms, spatial body perception, fine motor coordination, tactile…

An overview of cognitve styles and research in the field of field dependence/field independence within the context of the special needs of Hispanic students is presented. Various studies by Witkin et al. on the dimension of field dependence/field independence required the subject to perceive an item independently of the field or context that…

The construct of spatial ability is discussed and it is suggested that some widely used and cited tests that are called spatial ability tests may not be valid measures of that ability. Instead, their items may be solved using mental processes that are clearly analytical and not spatial in nature. Four studies involving the analysis of subjects'…

Presents study findings which supported the use of answer-until-correct tests. Discusses results based on responses of secondary students from England (N=387) that revealed that the answer-until-correct test of mechanical reasoning had similar findings to the spatial reasoning test. (ML)

Some research indicates that students often think that their drawings of three dimensional objects can be done without ambiguity, and that properties of drawings are properties of the objects. This "knowing vs. seeing" conflict was studied in three French sixth grade classes. (PK)