ABSTRACT
Complex and often unobservable STEM constructs and processes are represented using a variety of representations, including iconic gestures in which the body is configured or moved to resemble a referent's spatial properties or actions. Earlier researchers have suggested links between gesturing and expertise, leading some to recommend instructional gestures. Earlier research, however, has been largely correlational; furthermore, some gestures may be made with misleading positions or movements. Using the illustrative topic of strike in structural geology, we investigated the existence and impact of inaccurate instructional gestures. In Study 1, we examined videotapes of participants who had been asked to explain strikes to another person. We observed inaccurate (non-horizontal) strike gestures not only among novices (first introduced to strike during the study itself, n = 68) but also among participants who had greater expertise in geology (n = 21). In Study 2, we randomly assigned novices (N = 167) to watch video lessons in which the instructor accompanied verbal explanations of strikes with accurate, inaccurate, or no iconic gestures and tested students' learning on a strike-mapping task. Students with low spatial-perception skills showed no impact of their gestural condition on performance. Students with high spatial-perception skills showed no advantage from accurate gestures but performed significantly worse in the inaccurate-gesture condition. Findings suggest that recommendations to use gestures during instruction should include professional development programs that reduce the occurrence of inaccurate gestures.
ABSTRACT
Examining how informal knowledge systems change after formal instruction is imperative to understanding learning processes and conceptual development and to implementing effective educational practices. We used network analyses to determine how the organization of informal knowledge about multidigit numbers in kindergartners (N = 279; mean age = 5.76 years, SD = 0.55; 135 females) supports and is transformed by a year of in-school formal instruction. The results show that in kindergarten, piecemeal knowledge about the surface properties of reading and writing multidigit numbers and the use of base-10 units to determine large quantities are strongly associated with each other and connected in a stringlike manner to other emerging skills. After a year of instruction, each skill becomes connected to the "hub" abilities of reading and writing multidigit numbers, which also become strongly connected to more advanced knowledge of base-10 principles. These findings provide new insights into how partial knowledge provides the backbone on which explicit principles are learned.
Subject(s)
Learning , Reading , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Knowledge , Problem Solving , WritingABSTRACT
Place value concepts were measured longitudinally from kindergarten (2017) to first grade (2018) in a diverse sample (n = 279; Mage = 5.76 years, SD = 0.55; 135 females; 41% Black, 38% White, 8% Asian, 12% Latino). Children completed three syntactic tasks that required an explicit understanding of base-10 symbols and three approximate tasks that could be completed without this explicit understanding. Approximate performance was significantly better in both age groups. A factor analysis confirmed that syntactic and approximate tasks tapped separate latent variables in kindergarten, but not in first grade. Path analyses indicated that only kindergarten approximate performance predicted overall first-grade place value understanding. These findings suggest that explicit understanding of base-10 principles develops from implicit, partial knowledge of multidigit numbers.
Subject(s)
Knowledge , Child , Child, Preschool , Educational Status , Female , HumansABSTRACT
Spatial skills support STEM learning and achievement. However, children from low-socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds typically lag behind their middle- and high-SES peers. We asked whether a digital educational app-designed to mirror an already successful, spatial assembly training program using concrete materials-would be as effective for facilitating spatial skills in under-resourced preschoolers as the concrete materials. Three-year-olds (N = 61) from under-resourced backgrounds were randomly assigned to a business-as-usual control group or to receive 5 weeks of spatial training using either concrete, tangible materials or a digital app on a tablet. The spatial puzzles used were an extension of items from the Test of Spatial Assembly (TOSA). Preschoolers were pretested and posttested on new two-dimensional (2D) TOSA trials. Results indicate that both concrete and digital spatial training increased performance on the 2D-TOSA compared to the control group. The two trainings did not statistically differ from one another suggesting that educational spatial apps may be one route to providing early foundational skills to children from under-resourced backgrounds.
Subject(s)
Mobile Applications , Spatial Navigation , Achievement , Child, Preschool , Educational Status , HumansABSTRACT
Correlational studies link spatial-test scores and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics achievement. Here we asked whether children's understanding of astronomical phenomena would benefit from a prior intervention targeting a core component of children's projective spatial concepts-understanding that viewers' visual experiences are affected by vantage point. Children (8-9 years; N = 66) received outdoor and indoor experiences that did (Experimental) or did not (Control) focus on how scene appearance is affected by viewers' positions and movements. All then received an astronomy lesson about celestial motions (e.g., Sun apparent motion). Experimental-group children scored higher on immediate and 1-week perspective-taking tests and explained celestial phenomena more accurately than did control-group children. Data demonstrate that general spatial training-divorced from specific science content-can aid children's subsequent learning of scientific phenomena.
Subject(s)
Achievement , Astronomy/education , Child Development/physiology , Educational Measurement/methods , Child , Concept Formation , Humans , Male , Mathematics/education , Science/education , Technology/educationABSTRACT
Early spatial skills predict the development of later spatial and mathematical skills. Yet, it is unclear how comprehension of the words that capture spatial relations, words like behind and under, might be associated with children's early spatial and mathematics skills. The current study addressed this question by conducting a moderated mediation model to test the potential moderating effects of group factors, such as socioeconomic status (SES) and gender, on the possible mediation of spatial language comprehension on the association between spatial skill and mathematics performance. In total, 192 3-year-olds were tested on a battery of assessments, including a novel Spatial Language Comprehension Task, a test of spatial skills (2- and 3-dimensional trials of the Test of Spatial Assembly [2D and 3D TOSA, respectively]), and a composite of 2 mathematical assessments. The results indicate that this novel Spatial Language Comprehension Task is a reliable measure useful for examining group differences and the early space-math link. Specifically, higher-SES preschoolers and females had higher spatial language comprehension compared with their lower-SES peers and males, respectively. These SES and gender disparities in spatial language comprehension are concerning, given the strong association between spatial language comprehension and mathematics skills. Additionally, spatial language comprehension mediated the association between spatial skill and mathematics performance for females only. Future work should examine the potential causal role that spatial language comprehension may have in concurrent and later spatial and mathematics skills. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Subject(s)
Comprehension , Social Class , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Male , MathematicsABSTRACT
Researchers have shown that young children solve mapping tasks in small spaces, but have rarely tested children's performance in large, unfamiliar environments. In the current research, children (9-10 years; N = 40) explored an unfamiliar campus and marked flags' locations on a map. As hypothesized, better performance was predicted by higher spatial-test scores, greater spontaneous use of map-space coordinating strategies, and participant sex (favoring boys). Data supported some but not all hypotheses about the roles of specific spatial skills for mapping performance. Data patterns were similar on a computer mapping task that displayed environmental-scale videos of walks through a park. Patterns of children's mapping errors suggested both idiosyncratic and common mapping strategies that should be addressed in future research and educational interventions.