This article describes how spatial instruction with preservice teachers can be implemented in a middle-grades mathematics methods class. A "Reflect and Discuss" section is included for professional development study. (Contains 4 figures.)

As well as being important for school mathematics, spatial thinking is a big component of advanced mathematical studies too. As Jones (2001:55) points out, "Much of the thinking that is required in higher mathematics is spatial in nature. Einstein's comments on thinking in images are well known. Numerous mathematicians report using spatial…

Individuals often claim that they vividly remember information with negative emotional content. At least two types of information could lead to this sense of enhanced vividness: Information about the emotional item itself (e.g., the exact visual details of a snake) and information about the context in which the emotional item was encountered…

This study compares the tendency for numerals to elicit spontaneous perceptions of colour or taste (synaesthesia) with the tendency to visualise numbers as occupying particular visuo-spatial configurations (number forms). The prevalence of number forms was found to be significantly higher in synaesthetes experiencing colour compared both to…

Explicit instruction in thinking skills must be a priority goal of all teachers. In this book, the author presents a framework of the five Rs: Relevancy, Richness, Relatedness, Rigor, and Recursiveness. The framework serves to illuminate instruction in critical and creative thinking skills for K-12 teachers across content areas. Each chapter…

This paper discusses issues of representation in the use of scientific visualizations, specifically those used for biomedical applications, and the implications of those issues to interface design. Topics addressed include the benefits of research into the generation of virtual simulation (virtual reality) and the importance of realism. (Contains…

The capacity to produce imagery has been regarded as a powerful agent in the healing process and the use of mental imagery as a healing technique is well established. Freud developed the technique of free association and Jung developed several innovative imagery techniques designed to explore the unconscious. Others have used imagery and…

Visual perception and visual imagery are sufficiently representative of external stimuli to enhance retention. (Author)

A study of conceptual and relational responses of subjects when recalling the semantic content of a text they have just heard. Responses can be overgeneralized and inferred. Responses studied reflect processes of adjustment during acquisition of information and the processes occurring during recall. (SC)

"Mapping" is a note-taking technique by which students use visual cues to isolate, emphasize, and group information meaningfully. Features of this technique include: organizing the note page laterally, so that general topics are on the left side and supportive information is on the right side; separating topics by horizontal lines;…

A study was conducted to determine the relative effectiveness of several different visual, visual-verbal, and verbal treatments on the recall of factual information. The primary measure of individual differences of subjects involved in the study was that of intelligence quotient (I.Q.). The study attempted to determine whether or not treatments…

It was predicted that two variables would influence recognition memory for complex visual stimuli: association values, and the realistic-abstract dimension, or "objectivity". The stimuli were 12 reproductions of realistic paintings (clearly representing real world objects), six of high association value and six of low; and 12 abstract pictures,…

Visual literacy, the integration of seeing with other cognitive processes, is an essential tool of learning. To explain the relationship between the perceiver and the perceived, three types of theories can be brought to bear: introverted; extroverted; and transactional. Franklin Fearing, George Herbert Mead, Martin Buber, and other theorists have…

Discusses the nature of the system that keeps track of where things outside as well as inside the visual field are located. (Author/RK)

Attempts to define how the amount of realistic detail in a visualization affects subjects' achievement. (KS)