How to Foster Spatial Skills in Preschool and Elementary Students
Blog Post
March 2, 2022
The Learning Sciences Exchange (LSX) is a cross-sector fellowship program designed to bring together journalists, entertainment producers, policy influencers, social entrepreneurs, and researchers around the science of learning. As part of the program, our fellows contribute to various publications, including New America’s EdCentral blog; BOLD, the blog on learning development published by the Jacobs Foundation; and outside publications. The article below, authored by LSX Fellow Elizabeth Gunderson, is excerpted from a post published in Edutopia on March 2, 2022: How to Foster Spatial Skills in Preschool and Elementary Students.
Spatial skills refer to abilities that involve visualizing and mentally manipulating objects, shapes, and locations. We use spatial skills in everyday life, whether following a diagram to put together a piece of furniture, doing a jigsaw puzzle, interpreting a graph in a news article, or navigating through buildings and neighborhoods.
Spatial skills are also tightly linked to students’ achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). In preschool, children with stronger spatial skills tend to have stronger math skills.
Spatial skills are important for several reasons: They help students visualize math problems that are new to them (e.g., imagining three apples and two apples to solve 3+2), developing an accurate mental number line, using a “mental sketchpad” for arithmetic, visualizing dynamic scientific processes, and interpreting maps, graphs, and diagrams.
Importantly, all students can improve their spatial skills through practice. In school-age students, training them in spatial skills gives a two-for-one benefit—students improve their spatial skills and numerical skills at the same time. Improving students’ spatial skills improves their math achievement right away and sets them up for success in STEM coursework later on.
To continue reading, see the full article published March 2, 2022 in Edutopia.
Enjoy what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on what’s new in Education Policy!