A major challenge in the field of spatial reasoning is the translation of decades of accumulated research findings from the domain of psychology and mathematics education into the school mathematics curriculum. This study aimed to operationalise a heuristic termed visualise-predict-check (VPC) for the teaching of spatial visualisation and explore…

Understanding fraction magnitudes is foundational for later math achievement. To represent a fraction "x/y," children are often taught to use "partitioning": break the whole into "y" parts, and shade in "x" parts. Past research has shown that partitioning on number lines supports children's fraction…

Understanding fraction magnitudes is foundational for later math achievement. To represent a fraction x/y, children are often taught to use "partitioning": Break the whole into y parts and shade in x parts. Past research has shown that partitioning on number lines supports children's fraction magnitude knowledge more than partitioning on…

The definition of creativity among professional mathematicians and the definition of mathematical creativity in the classroom context are significantly different. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between students' mathematical creativity (i.e., cognitive flexibility) and figure apprehension when solving geometric…

The use of planar and volumetric geometric figures in the form of didactic games and exercises, the participants in the experiment showed a significant improvement in the results of the level of spatial representation compared with the control group. The methodology of the use of didactic games and exercises with geometric figures showed the…

In this article, Rebecca Seah and Andrew Beencke explore the importance of developing critical thinking and spatial reasoning skills. They explore a series of activities designed to develop the visualisation and critical thinking skills with Year 4 students.

We consider here a number of ideas for the classroom or lecture theatre associated with the mensuration of solids. In particular, the volumes of various tetrahedra are obtained in an indirect manner (by way of prisms and square-based pyramids). This activity develops problem-solving skills, spatial visualization and a from-first-principles…

The ability to mentally rotate objects in space has been singled out by cognitive scientists as a central metric of spatial reasoning (see Jansen, Schmelter, Quaiser-Pohl, Neuburger, & Heil, 2013; Shepard & Metzler, 1971 for example). However, this is a particularly undeveloped area of current mathematics curricula, especially in North…

This paper introduces a revised model for the development of basic computation skills. The model draws on four key phases, which have proven to be important for the development of calculation strategies and stresses the use of gestures and the verbalisation of concrete and mental images. This seems to be of crucial importance for children with…

The aim of the 2018 International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA) conference was to address the main issues concerned with evolving learning processes and supporting pedagogies and applications in the digital age. There have been advances in both cognitive…

Visualization is an effective technique for determining exactly what students must do to solve a mathematics problem. Pictures and charts can be used to help children understand which mathematics facts are present and which are missing--an important step toward problem solving. (PP)

The 12th iteration of the International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2019) is organized under the auspices of the International Educational Data Mining Society in Montreal, Canada. The theme of this year's conference is EDM in Open-Ended Domains. As EDM has matured it has increasingly been applied to open-ended and ill-defined tasks…

Discusses a study which was designed to examine if spatial-visual skills are related to learning the volume concept and if a particular mode of presentation for teaching volume is preferable for students of differing spatial ability. Results indicate that students of low visual orientation benefit if volume is taught before area and length. (ML)