Spatial visualization, problem solving, and cognitive development in freshman teacher education students

Relationship between locus of control and the development of spatial conceptual abilities

“…One specific area of intellectual development with which some science educators have been concerned is the development of spatial conceptual abilities. As Hill and Obenauf ( 1979) state:…”

Different approaches for teaching volume and students' visualization ability

“…Smith and Litman (1979) have shown that for early-adolescent boys, training improved their visualization skills but caused the skills of girls to decrease. Hill and Obenauf (1979) found that while preservice teachers' spatial-visualization skills did not change significantly with training, their problem-solving skills did. Studies by Brinkmann (1966), Maxwell et al, (1975) and Rosenthal et al (1977) however, have shown that significant improvement can be made on spatial-visualization scores through practice.…”

Micro-Computer Video Games and Spatial Visualization Acquisition

“…The literature contains evidence that direct instruction of spatial relationships improves performance on spatial tests and further, this improvement transfers into measurable improvement in mathematics [19][20][21]. However, age and sex differences must be considered in light of work done by Smith and Litman who found that early adolescent boys improved their scores on spatial tests following instruction, but girls did not [17].…”

“…Smith and Schroeder used a series of two-dimensional Tangram lessons to increase student performance on a spatial test. Hill determined that spatial instruction improved problem-solving performance [21 ]. It is the trainability aspect of spatial visualization added to its long-term developmental nature that leads to speculation that "playing" computer video games enhances student's spatial visualization ability.…”