Abstract

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Symmetry: Culture and Science
Volume 34, Number 4, pages 357-368 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.26830/symmetry_2023_4_357

REMARKABLE CORRELATIONS BETWEEN MATH GRADES AND SPATIAL THINKING SKILLS OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Julia Köck¹, Günter Maresch^2*

¹ Department of Mathematics, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria
Email: julia.koeck@plus.ac.at

² Department of Mathematics, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria
Email: guenter.maresch@plus.ac.at
Web: https://geometriedidaktik.at
ORCID: 0000-0002-4276-6827

^* corresponding author

Abstract: In recent years, several international studies have investigated a possible link between mathematics performance and spatial thinking skills. On the one hand, it was observed that individuals with strengths in the STEM fields perform better on spatial ability tests. On the other hand, it was found that an improvement in mathematics performance can be observed by training spatial thinking skills. Behavioural science and neurology explain this transfer performance by the fact that similar neuronal networks are used when processing spatial and numerical information. In the study presented in this paper, the spatial ability of students (N = 237) at the age of 8 up to 13 years was determined by means of a spatial task collection and, in addition, the mathematics grades were recorded. The analysis shows that those students with a better mathematics grade also achieve a better result at the spatial ability tasks and that these effects are mostly large across all age groups.

Keywords: spatial ability, spatial thinking, spatial perception, mathematics, mathematics education. MSC 2020: 97C40x

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