Mental Rotation With Tangible Three‐Dimensional Objects: A New Measure Sensitive to Developmental Differences in 4‐ to 8‐Year‐Old Children

Abstract

There is an emerging consensus that spatial thinking is fundamental to later success in math and science. The goals of this study were to design and evaluate a novel test of three‐dimensional (3D) mental rotation for 4‐ to 8‐year‐old children (N = 165) that uses tangible 3D objects. Results revealed that the measure was both valid and reliable and indicated steady growth in 3D mental rotation between the ages of 4 and 8. Performance on the measure was highly related to success on a measure of two‐dimensional (2D) mental rotation, even after controlling for executive functioning. Although children as young as 5 years old performed above chance, 3D mental rotation appears to be a difficult skill for most children under the age of 7, as indicated by frequent guessing and difficulty with mirror objects. The test is a useful new tool for studying the development of 3D mental rotation in young children.

The space‐math link in preschool boys and girls: Importance of mental transformation, targeting accuracy, and spatial anxiety

“…A positive correlation between mental transformation and counting means that higher mental transformation ability correlates with better counting, but a negative correlation between targeting and counting means that higher targeting accuracy correlates with better counting. [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] also found no gender difference on the Levine's Mental Transformation Task (e.g., Hawes, Lefevre, Xu, & Bruce, 2015). Additionally, the small gender differences in this study may not be surprising considering its cultural context.…”

Effects of mental rotation training on children’s spatial and mathematics performance: A randomized controlled study

“…Indeed, previous research has shown that the majority of 4-to 8-year-olds struggle to differentiate mirror images [17]. It was with this in mind that two of the three games (see Fig.…”

“…This task was selected to determine whether the effects of mental rotation training were limited to gains in mirror discrimination. Cronbach's alpha of internal consistency was previously identified as satisfactory (.70: [17]). …”

“…More specifically, we reasoned that the 2D mental rotation training would transfer to tests of 2D mental rotation due to the shared need to differentiate between 'mirror images.' Previous research has shown that many children struggle with mental rotation tasks, at least partly attributable to difficulties with mirror images [17]. With adaptive and distributed practice, we hypothesized that children would become more efficient at identifying and differentiating mirror images-a key obstacle to successful 2D mental rotation performance.…”

Developmental Patterns of Cognitive Abilities

“…Neuburger et al [29] documented sex differences in mental rotation tasks in the fourth but not in the second grade. In contrast, Hawes et al [30] did not document sex differences in children aged 4-8 years, with either 2-D or 3-D tasks. Palejwala and Goldenring [31] aimed to capture a wide developmental span, ages 2 to 7 years, in order to examine sex differences across these ages.…”