Using 146 high school students, this research assessed the effects of aptitude, strategy training, and item characteristics on the strategic processes employed in the performance of spatial visualization tasks. Treatment effects were shown to depend on the subject's aptitude profile and on the characteristics of items. (BS)

This study of individual differences in performance of a geometric analogies task included four-alternative test items and studied eye movements and confidence judgments as well as latency and error. Results were interpreted using two hypothesized performance strategies: constructive matching and response elimination. (Author/BW)

Examined the relationship of attitude toward science, spatial ability, mathematical ability, and scientific personality (measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) on the achievement of eighth-grade students (N=98). One finding noted is that males and females with science grades of C or D had the most characteristics not associated with science.…

Investigates the role of cognitive style in the ability of first-, third-, and fifth-graders to represent the horizontal coordinate. Students were observed on a portable rod-and-frame test of field dependence/independence and on water bottle and crossbar measures of horizontality representation. (Author/RH)

This original comparative study explores two central questions in the study of first language acquisition: What is the relative impact of structural and functional determinants? What is universal versus language-specific during development? The study addresses these questions in three domains of child language: reference to entities, the…

Zoo Zillions contains five activities for grades K-2: Annie's Jungle Trail, 3D Gallery, Number Line Express, Gnu Ewe Boutique, and Fish Stories. These activities enable children to review and practice basic mathematics skills; identify three-dimensional shapes, watch them in motion, and create their own three-dimensional designs; locate numbers…

Space orientation is a major area of development for preschool and early primary school children. Knowledge about one's own body and about body movements in space is a necessary condition for space orientation. Starting from their own bodies, children learn to focus on the space in which they move. They then learn to take a non-body perspective…

This study investigated the effects of audio, animation, and spatial ability in a computer-based instructional program for biology. The program presented instructional material via test or audio with lean text and included eight instructional sequences presented either via static illustrations or animations. High school students enrolled in a…

This book is a guide to teaching orientation and mobility (O&M) skills to students with visual impairments in the public schools. The first chapter offers an overview of the nature and responsibilities of the orientation and mobility specialist and explains the fields legal underpinnings. Next comes a look at O&M in relation to the school year…

Replicated a study to determine if a sex difference in spatial visualization ability exists among grade six students verging on adolescence and if instruction differentially affects boys/girls at this age. Although instruction significantly affected boys/girls in grades seven to eight, current results do not support the same interaction among…

Some specific intellectual abilities show consistent sex differences which vary in degree according to types of tests and samples examined. Reviews the empirical support for these differences, as well as the methodological difficulties, data and sampling limitations, interpretative biases, and contradictory results of much of the sex-difference…

Spatial ability and Piagetian tasks were administered to 80 schooled/non-schooled Fulanis (primarily nomadic and hunters) and agriculturalists (living a settled life). Results indicated that Fulanis develop spatial skills adapted to the ecological demands of their lives and that schooled students performed better on Piagetian tasks than…

Investigated the effects of individual difference variables of field dependence/independence and spatial visualization ability on the performance of college students in three modes. The extent to which four variables account for variability in retention test performance on certain tasks was also viewed. (MP)

Discusses some of the challenges faced by blind and visually impaired students, and some of the tools available to help these students in their efforts to learn mathematics. Argues that much of the language of mathematics relies heavily on visual reference. (DDR)

Describes study of two-year college students that was conducted to determine whether variables that were predictors of success in a programing class were also predictors of success in a package-oriented computer class using Lotus 1-2-3. Diagraming skill, critical thinking ability, spatial discrimination, and test anxiety level were examined. (11…