Faculty Publications
Effective Materials For Increasing Young Children's Spatial And Mapping Skills
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book/Conference Title
Journal of Geoscience Education
Volume
56
Issue
1
First Page
5
Last Page
14
Abstract
Spatial skills are necessary for mapping success and conceptual understanding in the geosciences. This study investigates the efficacy of using toy figures, toy buildings, digital plan-view photograph maps and digital photograph snapshots in increasing the spatial skills of children ages 2.5 to 9 years. A pretest-intervention-posttest design study with matched experimental and control groups (n=20) was conducted. The investigators examined children's performance in six skill areas: diminution in scale; identifying the simple perspective of another; mental linear displacement; mental rotation; using an aligned map and rotating an unaligned map into alignment; and identifying a more complex viewpoint of another. Pretest mean total scores were not significantly different. Posttest scores showed a twenty percent gain for the experimental group, but no net gain for the control group. Activities as described in this study can build a foundation of spatial skills needed for later geoscience map activities.
Department
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Original Publication Date
1-1-2008
DOI of published version
10.5408/1089-9995-56.1.5
Recommended Citation
Petty, Mandy R. and Rule, Audrey C., "Effective Materials For Increasing Young Children's Spatial And Mapping Skills" (2008). Faculty Publications. 2494.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/facpub/2494
