ERIC Number: EJ1306119
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Jul
Pages: 9
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0025-5769
EISSN: N/A
Developing Spatial Skills through Mental Rotation Activities
Shriki, Atara; Patkin, Dorit
Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12, v114 n7 p536-544 Jul 2021
Spatial ability was defined by Lohman (1996) as the ability to create, maintain, retrieve, and change visual pictures. Linn and Peterson (1985) distinguished among spatial perception, mental rotation, and spatial visualization. Spatial perception is the determination of spatial connections with respect to the orientation of the learners' body; mental rotation is the ability to accurately and rapidly rotate mentally two- or three-dimensional (2D or 3D) geometric figures, and spatial visualization is related to the ability to identify multistep complex manipulations of spatial information. Among these three types of spatial skills, the ability to perform a mental rotation has the closest relation to success in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. In many education systems around the globe, solid geometry constitutes an integral part of the mathematics curriculum for different ages and at different learning levels. Nevertheless, the topic of mental rotation is not always explicitly manifested in the curriculum. Given the importance attributed to the ability to perform a mental rotation, the authors present several activities intended to develop this ability among learners in grades 6-8. The activities constitute an example of tasks that can be continuously integrated within the routine teaching framework of mathematics lessons. Alternately, these tasks can be assigned as homework, to allow learners a longer time for developing strategies that will help them to deal with the embedded challenges.
Descriptors: Spatial Ability, Concept Formation, Geometric Concepts, Visualization, Skill Development, STEM Education, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8, Holistic Approach, Educational Technology, Technology Uses in Education
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. 1906 Association Drive, Reston, VA 20191. Tel: 800-235-7566; Tel: 703-620-9840; Fax: 703-476-2570; e-mail: publicationsdept@nctm.org; Web site: https://pubs.nctm.org/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 6; Intermediate Grades; Middle Schools; Grade 7; Junior High Schools; Secondary Education; Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A