Browse > Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.7468/jksmed.2013.17.2.099

Developing Third Grade Boys and Girls' Spatial Ability by Means of an Extra-Curricular Teaching Unit  

Patkin, Dorit (Mathematics Department, Kibbutzim College of Education)
Fadalon, Limore (Haim Bar_Lev Elementary School)
Publication Information
Research in Mathematical Education / v.17, no.2, 2013 , pp. 99-118 More about this Journal
Abstract
The present study focuses on the contribution of a teaching unit to the development of spatial ability of third graders in general and from a gender point of view in particular. The research population consisted of seventy-four pupils: thirty-seven pupils in the experimental group who attended the teaching unit and thirty-seven pupils in the control group. The spatial ability of all the pupils was examined by means of common tests which checked cognitive capabilities of spatial ability. The research findings illustrate an improvement in the spatial ability of the experimental group pupils following the participation in the teaching unit. Moreover, regarding the gender aspect, the findings show that there was no significant differentiation between the spatial ability of third grade boys and the spatial ability of girls of the same age group.
Keywords
spatial ability; teaching unit; gender differences; 3D shapes; solid geometry; third grade pupils' spatial ability;
Citations & Related Records
연도 인용수 순위
  • Reference
1 Battista, M. &. Clements, D. H. (1998). Finding the number of cubes in rectangular cube build-ings. Teach. Child. Math. 4(5), 258-264. ME 1998f.04242
2 Ben-Chaim, D., Lappan, G. & Houang, R. T. (1989). Adolescents' ability to communicate spatial information: Analyzing and effecting pupils' performance. Educ. Stud. Math 20(2), 121-146. ME 1990e.02958   DOI
3 Caplan, P.; Crawford, M.; Hyde, J. & Richardson, J. T. (1997). Gender Differences in Human Cognition. Counterpoints: Cognition, Memory, and Language Series. New York: Oxford Uni-versity Press. ERIC ED437187
4 Carpenter, M. (2003). Why girls score low on SATs baffling. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2003(Aug. 27)
5 Colom, R.; Contreras, M. J.; Botella, J. & Santacreu, J. (2001). Vehicles of spatial ability. Person-ality and Individual Differences 32(5), 903-912. http://www.uam.es/proyectosinv/psimasd/vehicles.pdf
6 Dixon, J. K. (1997). Computer use and visualization in pupils' construction of reflection and rota-tion concepts, School Science and Mathematics 97(7), 352-358. ERIC EJ588583   DOI
7 Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.
8 Gur, R.; Alsop, D.; Glahn, D.; Petty, R.; Swanson, C.; Maldjian, J.; Turetsky, B.; Detre, J. & Gee, J. (2000). An fMRI study of sex differences in regional activation to a verbal and a spatial task. Brain and Language 74(2), 157-170.   DOI   ScienceOn
9 Haciomeroglu, E. S. & Chicken, E. (2012). Visual thinking and gender differences in high school calculus. Int. J. Math. Educ. Sci. Technol. 43(3), 303-313. ME 2012c.00197 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2011.618550   DOI
10 Halpern, F. D. (2005). Sex, Brains & Hands - Gender Differences in Cognitive Abilities. Skeptic 2(3), 96-103.
11 Koester, B. A. (2003). Prisms and pyramids: constructing three-dimentional models to build un-derstanding. Teach. Child. Math. 9(8), 436-442. ME 2003f.05035 ERIC EJ668838
12 Linn, M. C. & Petersen, A. C. (1985). Emergence and characterization of sex differences in spatial ability: A meta-analysis. Child Development 56(6), 1479-1498. ERIC EJ328551   DOI   ScienceOn
13 Maccoby, E. E. & Jacklin, C. N. (1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stan-ford University Press.
14 Medina, A. C.; Gerson, H. B. P. & Sorby, S. A. (1998). Identifying gender differences in the 3D visualization skills of engineering pupils in Brazil and in the United States. In: Proceedings of the Proceedings of the International Conference for Engineering Education, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ERIC ED443729
15 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) (1989). Curriculum and Evaluation Stand-ards for School Mathematics. Reston, VA: NCTM. ME 1989k.00892
16 Patkin, D. (2010). The role of "personal knowledge" in solid geometry among primary school mathematics teachers. J. Korea Soc. Math. Educ. Ser. D 14(4), 263-279.
17 Patkin, D. & Dayan, E. (1013). The intelligence of observation improving high school pupils' spa-tial ability by means of intervention units. Int. J. Math. Educ. Sci. Technol. 44(2), 179-195. ME 2013c.00191 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2012.703335
18 Piaget, J. & Inhelder, B. (1967). The child's conception of space. New York: The North Library. ERIC ED034694
19 Shepard, R. N. & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science 171, 701-703.   DOI   ScienceOn
20 Smith, G. (2001). Interaction Evokes Reflection: Learning Efficiency in Spatial Visualization. In: Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommuni-cations 2001.
21 Sorby, S. A. (2009). Educational research in developing 3-D spatial skills for engineering pupils. International Journal of Science Education 31(3), 459-480. ERIC EJ828856   DOI   ScienceOn
22 Sorby, S. A. & Baartmans, B. G. (2000). The development and assessment of a course for enhanc-ing the 3-D spatial visualization skills of first year engineering students. Journal of Engineer-ing Education 89(3), 301-307
23 Sorby, S. A., Wysocki, A. F., & Baartmans, B. G. (2002). Introduction to 3D Spatial Visualization. New York: Cengage Learning
24 Spelke, E. S. (2005). Sex differences in intrinsic aptitude for mathematics and science: a critical review. American Psychologist 60(9), 950-958. ERIC EJ733610   DOI   ScienceOn