• Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.371-386
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• 2012

Spatial ability has been valued as one component of intelligence and as an talented domain. The researchers agree that spatial ability is associated with the achievements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and important in STEM education. The purpose of this study is to assess Korean middle school students' spatial ability and compare Gifted Students and General Students' spatial ability. For this purpose, 'The Revised PSVT:R' was translated into Korean and administered 509 Korean middle school students, and also internal consistency reliability evidence and construct validity evidence of 'The Revised PSVT:R' were examined. This study explored the spatial ability of Korean middle school students (graded 7 through 9), and investigated association between spatial ability and students' mathematics achievement, the students' spatial ability according to their gender and grade level. As a result, this study shows that gifted students were better than general students in spatial ability. And there were significant correlations between spatial ability and mathematics, science, Korean language achievement. According to these results, spatial ability should be included as one of the important components in identifying students for gifted education programs.

• Research in Mathematical Education
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.91-106
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• 2012

Spatial ability has been valued as a talent domain and important skill in mathematics education because it enhanced an intuitive view and an understanding in many areas of mathematic. In addition, spatial ability highly correlates with mathematics achievement, indicating its crucial role in success in mathematics education. Some researchers founded gender differences in mathematics and spatial ability, and indicated that spatial ability served as a mediator of gender difference in mathematics. This study explored the spatial ability of 349 Korean middle school students (Grade 7-9), and investigated the association among students' spatial ability and their mathematics achievement, gender, and grade. The result of this study shows that spatial ability correlates positively with mathematics achievement. While gender difference did not exist in mathematics, significant gender difference existed in spatial ability favoring male students.