Varied conditions under which children aged four to five years matched the area of a rectangle with a given width or height to that of a square. Subjects matched one dimension of the rectangle to one side of the square suggesting that area matches seemed to be based on a side-matching strategy. (Author/AS)

The importance of spatial ability in facilitating curricular goals in science and mathematics is stressed. Suggestions are given about materials and activities to use and an instrument for assessing visual perception is illustrated. (MNS)

Reports on the case study of a high school student using a computer-based tool called the Contour Analyzer to create graphs of height versus distance and slope versus distance for a flat board positioned with different slants and orientations. Focuses on visually recognizing the mathematical behavior of the slope versus distance function which…

Describes two instructional activities to develop spatial imagery and the pupil's responses to these activities. Discusses how the classroom atmosphere contributed to the success of the activities. (YP)

Although deficits in visual attention are often postulated as an important component of many declines in cognitive processing and functional outcomes in older adults, surprisingly little emphasis has been placed on evaluating psychometric instruments with which individual differences in visual attention ability can be assessed. This article…

The attentional blink refers to the finding that the 2nd of 2 targets embedded in a stream of rapidly presented distractors is often missed. Whereas most theories of the attentional blink focus on limited-capacity processes that occur after target selection, the present work investigates the selection process itself. Identifying a target letter…

Although electromagnetism is an important component of upper secondary school physics syllabuses in many countries, there has been relatively little research on students' understanding of the topic. A written test consisting of 16 diagnostic questions was developed and used to survey the understanding of electromagnetism of upper secondary school…

The relationship between students' relative ability in visual-spatial tasks as well as their verbal and numerical skills to their performance in an introductory college chemistry course was investigated. For 700 subjects, verbal and mathematics Scholastic Aptitude Test scores (SAT-V) and (SAT-M) and the following four perceptual tests were…

This study presents data augmenting the validity studies of the Wheatley Cube (McDaniel and Kroll, 1984), a computer managed test of spatial visualization. Twenty-one students in pilot training are administered several instruments designed to measure the ability to construct a cognitive three-dimensional space, including: (1) the Wheatley Cube,…

Four experiments examined the spatial orientation of children who walked while wearing a blindfold. Children and adults viewed a target, were guided blindfolded to a new point, and then aimed a pointer at the target. Route complexity, but not number of targets or time delay, affected spatial orientation. Some age differences were observed. (BC)

Examined, over a 10-year span, continuity in individual differences in cross-modal transfer to visually recognized shapes that had previously been felt but not seen. Found that cross-modal performance showed a left-hand advantage at 11 years. Cross-age correlations were significant when tactual exploration at 11 years was done with the left hand.…

Investigates the hypothesis that preservice teachers specializing in science and mathematics will score significantly higher on spatial ability tests than other preservice teachers. Also investigates gender-related differences in spatial ability. Contains 26 references. (DDR)

It has been 20 years since Bever's (1982) and Strauss and Stavy's (1982) books on U-shaped functions in human development were published. The three target articles in this issue describe several old and new U-shaped functions and new theoretical explanations for their existence. In this article, the authors will comment on two aspects of U-shaped…

Using teachers as co-researchers to collect and analyze data, this case study explored preschool and kindergarteners' learning when they were engaged in hands-on activities in the garden and greenhouse areas of a model outdoor classroom. Key findings suggest that when young children are participating in garden and greenhouse activities they are:…

In 2 experiments, the authors tested whether the classical modality effect--that is, the stronger recency effect for auditory items relative to visual items--can be extended to the spatial domain. An order reconstruction task was undertaken with four types of material: visual-spatial, auditory-spatial, visual-verbal, and auditory-verbal.…