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Investigating Preschool Teacher Candidates’ Spatial Thinking Skills

Year 2020, Volume: 13 Issue: 1, 191 - 204, 09.01.2020
https://doi.org/10.30831/akukeg.561847

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate prospective preschool teachers’ spatial thinking skills in terms of gender, class standings, type of high school they previously graduated from and whether they attend a course on early mathematics education or not. Survey Method was used in this study. A total of 132 prospective preschool teachers who were attending a preschool teacher training program at a state university in Turkey participated in this study. Santa Barbara Sense of Direction Scale (SBSOD) and Spatial Ability Self-Report Scale (SASRS) were used as the data collection tools. Correlation Analysis was used to investigate correlation between the scores of two scales. ANOVA, Independent-Samples T-Test, Kruskal Wallis-H Test and Mann Whitney-U Test were used according to the assumptions of parametric tests. A positive correlation was found between the scores of two different scales. Differences between the mean scores of participants in terms of gender, class standings, high school types and whether they attended a course on early mathematics education or not, were not statistically significant for each assessment scale, as other results of this study.

References

  • Abay S., Tertemiz, N. & Gökbulut Y. (2018). Investigation in several variables the spatial skills of teacher candidates. Necatibey Faculty of Education Electronic Journal of Science and mathematics Education. 12(1), 45-62.
  • Adak-Özdemir A. & Güven Y. (2014). The effect of the spatial skills education program on the spatial skills of preschool children. International Journal on New trends in Education and Their Implications. 5(4), 121-137.
  • Akerson A., G. (2011). Survey of in-service early childhood educators’ knowledge, skills and confidence in teaching spatial skills to young children. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Houston, Faculty of College of Education. Houston, U.S.A.
  • Alaswad Z. (2013). Spatial influences on socialization in preschool classrooms. Unpublished master’s thesis. Iowa state university. Department of Art and Design. Iowa, U.S.A.
  • Atit K., Miller D. I., Newcombe N. S. & Uttal D. H. (2018). Teachers’ spatial skills across disciplines and educational levels: Exploring nationally representative data. Archives of Scientific Psychology. 6, 130-137.
  • Berciano A. & Gutiérrez G. (2015). How to improve spatial visualization ability of preservice teachers of childhood education: A teaching experiment. In CERME 9th Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education. 2755-2761.
  • Brillante P. & Mankiw S. (2015). A sense of place: Human geography in early childhood classroom. Young Children. 70(3), 16-23.
  • Bryant P. (2009). Key understandings in mathematics learning: Paper 5 understanding space and its representation in mathematics. London: Nuffield Foundation.
  • Casey B. M., Andrews N., Schindler H., Kersh J. E., Samper A. & Copley J. (2008). The development of spatial skills through interventions involving block building activities. Cognition and Instruction. 26, 269-309.
  • Clements D. H. & Sarama J. (1995). Design a Logo environment for elementary geometry. Journal of Mathematical Behavior. 14, 381-398.
  • Cohen L. E & Emmons J. (2016). Block play: spatial language with preschool and school-aged children. Early Child Development and Care. 187, 967-977.
  • Collier C., Perlman D. & Fisette J. (2009). Getting open: games that teach spatial awareness. Future Focus, 30(2),25-28.
  • Creswell J. W. (2012). Planning conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Boston: Pearson.
  • Davis G. A. & Hyun E. (2005). A study of kindergarten children’s spatial representation in a mapping project. Mathematics Education Research Journal. 17(1), 73-100.
  • Dursun Ö. (2010). The relationships among preservice teachers’ spatial visualization ability, geometry self-efficacy, and spatial anxiety. Unpublished master’s thesis. Middle East Technical University, The Graduate School of Social Sciences. Ankara, Turkey.
  • Ehrilch S. B., Levine S. C. & Goldin-Meadow S. (2006). The importance of gesture in children’s spatial reasoning. Developmental Psychology. 42(6), 1259-1268.
  • Farrell S. (2017). Age-related changes in visual spatial performance. Unpublished master’s thesis. Seton Hall University, The Department of Psychology. South Orange, U.S.A.
  • Fuson K. C., Clements D. H. & Backmann-Kezez S. (2010). Focus in kindergarten: Teaching with curriculum focal points. Reston: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
  • Gabrielli, S., Rogers, Y. & Scaife, M. (2000). Young children's spatial representations developed through exploration of a desktop virtual reality scene. Education and Information Technologies. 5(4), 251-262.
  • Gunderson E. A., Ramirez G., Beilock S. & Levine S. C. (2013). Teachers’ spatial anxiety relates to 1st and 2nd graders’ spatial learning. Mind Brain and Education. 7(3), 196-199.
  • Hacısalihoğlu-Karadeniz, M. (2015). Okul öncesi çocuklarda mekânsal ilişkiler: harita örnekleri. Kastamonu Üniversitesi Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi. 23(4), 1757-1774.
  • Helenius O. Johansson M., Lange T., Meaney T., Riesbeck E. & Wernberg, A. (2014). Preschool teachers' awareness of mathematics. In 9th Swedish mathematics education research seminar, Umeå, February 4-5, 2014.
  • Kayhan E. B. (2005). Investigation of high school students’ spatial ability. Unpublished master’s thesis. Middle East Technical University, Ankara.
  • Keren, G., Ben-David, A. & Fridin, M. (2012). Kindergarten assistive robotics (KAR) as a tool for spatial cognition development in pre-school education. International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, October 7-12, 2012. Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal.
  • Levine S. C., Ratliff K. R., Huttenlocher J. & Cannon J. (2011). Early puzzle play: A predictor of preschoolers’ spatial transformation skill. Developmental Psychology. 48(2), 530-543.
  • Maiorana, S. A. (2014). SPEEDY 3-D: A Study of the Effects of Spatial Ability among College Students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Fredonia.
  • Marchis I. (2017). Pre-service primary teachers’ spatial abilities. Acta Didactica Napocensia. 10(2), 123-130.
  • National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (Ed.). (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics (Vol. 1). Reston: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
  • Newcombe N. S. (2010). Picture this: Increasing math and science learning by improving spatial skills. American Educator. 34(2), 29-43.
  • Newcombe N. S. & Fick A. (2010). Early education for spatial intelligence: Why, what, and how. Mind Brain and Education. 4(3), 102-111.
  • Newcombe N. S. (2013). Seeing Relationships: Using Spatial Thinking to Teach Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies. American Educator, 37(1), 26.
  • National Research Council (2006). Learning to think spatially. Washington DC :National Academies.
  • Olver, A. L. S. (2013). Investigating early spatial and numerical skills in junior kindergarten children learning in an inquiry- and play-based environment. Unpublished master of arts degree dissertation. University of Toronto.
  • Ontario Ministry of Education (2014). Paying attention to spatial reasoning. Ontario: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
  • Ramirez G., Gunderson E. A., Levine S. C., & Beilock S. L. (2012). Spatial anxiety relates to spatial abilities as a function of working memory in children. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(3), 474-487.
  • Shutts K., Örnkloo H., Von Hofsten C., Keen R., & Spelke E. S. (2009). Young children’s representations of spatial and functional relations between objects. Child Development. 80(6), 1612-1627.
  • Şimşek A. (2012). Arştırma modelleri. In Şimşek A. (Eds.) Sosyal Bilimlerde Araştırma Yöntemleri. Eskişehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi.
  • Turgut M. & Yilmaz S. (2012). Relationships among Preservice Primary Mathematics Teachers' Gender, Academic Success and Spatial Ability. International Journal of Instruction, 5(2), 5-20.
  • Turgut M. (2014). Turkish validity studies of an environmental spatial ability scale: Santa Barbara sense of direction. Acta Didactica Universitatis Comenianae Mathematics, 14(1), 87-103.
  • Turgut M. (2015). Development of the spatial ability self-report scale (SASRS): reliability and validity studies. Quality & Quantity, 49(5), 1997-2014.
  • Twyman A., Friedman A. & Spetch M. L. (2007). Penetrating the geometric module: Catalyzing children’s use of landmarks. Developmental Psychology. 43(6), 1523-1530.
  • Uttal D. H., Meadow N. G., Tipton E., Hand L. L., Alden A. R., Warren C. & Newcombe N. S. (2013). The malleability of spatial skills: A meta-analysis of training studies. Psychological Bulletin, 139(2), 352-402.
  • Üstün E. & Akman B. (2003). Üç yaş grubu çocuklarda kavram gelişimi. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi. 24, 137-141.
  • Vander Heyden K. M., Huizinga M., Kan K. J., & Jolles J. (2016). A developmental perspective on spatial reasoning: Dissociating object transformation from viewer transformation ability. Cognitive Development, 38, 63-74.
  • Vander Heyden, K. M., van Atteveldt, N. M., Huizinga, M., & Jolles, J. (2016). Implicit and explicit gender beliefs in spatial ability: Stronger stereotyping in boys than girls. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1114-1125.
  • van der Ven S. H., van der Maas H. L., Straatemeier M., & Jansen B. R. (2013). Visuospatial working memory and mathematical ability at different ages throughout primary school. Learning and Individual Differences, 27, 182-192.
  • Van Nes F. & Van Eerde D. (2010). Spatial structuring and the development of number sense: A case study of young children working with blocks. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior. 29, 145-159.
  • Verdine B. N., Golinkoff R. M., Hirsh-Pasek K., & Newcombe N. S. (2014). Finding the missing piece: Blocks, puzzles, and shapes fuel school readiness. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 3(1), 7-13.
  • Wei W., Yuan H., Chen C., & Zhou X. (2012). Cognitive correlates of performance in advanced mathematics. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(1), 157-181.
  • Whitley-Morris S. (2018). The Effect of Gender on Spatial Ability and Spatial Reasoning among Students in Grades 2-8. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Liberty University.
  • Zambrzycka J. (2014). Improving Preschoolers' Mathematical Performance: The Nature of Spatial Input by Early Childhood Educators. Unpublisged master of art dissertation. Wildfrid Laurier University.

Okul Öncesi Öğretmen Adaylarının Uzamsal Düşünme Becerilerinin İncelenmesi

Year 2020, Volume: 13 Issue: 1, 191 - 204, 09.01.2020
https://doi.org/10.30831/akukeg.561847

Abstract

Bu araştırmanın amacı, okul öncesi öğretmen
adaylarının uzamsal düşünme becerilerinin cinsiyet, sınıf düzeyi, mezun olunan
lise türü ve erken çocukluk matematik eğitimi dersini alıp almama durumları
açısından incelemektir. Araştırmada Tarama Yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Araştırmaya
Türkiye’de bir devlet üniversitesindeki okul öncesi öğretmen eğitimine yönelik bir
programa devam eden 132 okul öncesi öğretmen adayı katılmıştır. Veri toplama
araçları olarak Santa Barbara Yön Hissi Ölçeği (SBSOD) ve Uzamsal Beceri Öz-Değerlendirme
Ölçeği (SASRS) kullanılmıştır. İki ölçeğin sonuçları arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi
için Korelasyon Analizi, parametrik testlerin varsayımlarını karşılama
durumlarına göre ANOVA, T-testi, Kruskal Wallis-H Testi ve Mann Whitney-U testi
uygulanmıştır. Araştırmanın bir sonucu olarak, kullanılan iki ölçme aracı
puanları arasından pozitif yönde bir ilişki bulunmuştur. Araştırmanın diğer
sonuçları olarak her iki ölçme aracı için, katılımcıların cinsiyet, sınıf
düzeyi, lise türü ve erken matematik eğitimi dersini alma durumları açısından
ortalama puanları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir farklılığın
olmadığı ortaya çıkmıştır.

References

  • Abay S., Tertemiz, N. & Gökbulut Y. (2018). Investigation in several variables the spatial skills of teacher candidates. Necatibey Faculty of Education Electronic Journal of Science and mathematics Education. 12(1), 45-62.
  • Adak-Özdemir A. & Güven Y. (2014). The effect of the spatial skills education program on the spatial skills of preschool children. International Journal on New trends in Education and Their Implications. 5(4), 121-137.
  • Akerson A., G. (2011). Survey of in-service early childhood educators’ knowledge, skills and confidence in teaching spatial skills to young children. Unpublished doctoral thesis. University of Houston, Faculty of College of Education. Houston, U.S.A.
  • Alaswad Z. (2013). Spatial influences on socialization in preschool classrooms. Unpublished master’s thesis. Iowa state university. Department of Art and Design. Iowa, U.S.A.
  • Atit K., Miller D. I., Newcombe N. S. & Uttal D. H. (2018). Teachers’ spatial skills across disciplines and educational levels: Exploring nationally representative data. Archives of Scientific Psychology. 6, 130-137.
  • Berciano A. & Gutiérrez G. (2015). How to improve spatial visualization ability of preservice teachers of childhood education: A teaching experiment. In CERME 9th Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education. 2755-2761.
  • Brillante P. & Mankiw S. (2015). A sense of place: Human geography in early childhood classroom. Young Children. 70(3), 16-23.
  • Bryant P. (2009). Key understandings in mathematics learning: Paper 5 understanding space and its representation in mathematics. London: Nuffield Foundation.
  • Casey B. M., Andrews N., Schindler H., Kersh J. E., Samper A. & Copley J. (2008). The development of spatial skills through interventions involving block building activities. Cognition and Instruction. 26, 269-309.
  • Clements D. H. & Sarama J. (1995). Design a Logo environment for elementary geometry. Journal of Mathematical Behavior. 14, 381-398.
  • Cohen L. E & Emmons J. (2016). Block play: spatial language with preschool and school-aged children. Early Child Development and Care. 187, 967-977.
  • Collier C., Perlman D. & Fisette J. (2009). Getting open: games that teach spatial awareness. Future Focus, 30(2),25-28.
  • Creswell J. W. (2012). Planning conducting and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research. Boston: Pearson.
  • Davis G. A. & Hyun E. (2005). A study of kindergarten children’s spatial representation in a mapping project. Mathematics Education Research Journal. 17(1), 73-100.
  • Dursun Ö. (2010). The relationships among preservice teachers’ spatial visualization ability, geometry self-efficacy, and spatial anxiety. Unpublished master’s thesis. Middle East Technical University, The Graduate School of Social Sciences. Ankara, Turkey.
  • Ehrilch S. B., Levine S. C. & Goldin-Meadow S. (2006). The importance of gesture in children’s spatial reasoning. Developmental Psychology. 42(6), 1259-1268.
  • Farrell S. (2017). Age-related changes in visual spatial performance. Unpublished master’s thesis. Seton Hall University, The Department of Psychology. South Orange, U.S.A.
  • Fuson K. C., Clements D. H. & Backmann-Kezez S. (2010). Focus in kindergarten: Teaching with curriculum focal points. Reston: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
  • Gabrielli, S., Rogers, Y. & Scaife, M. (2000). Young children's spatial representations developed through exploration of a desktop virtual reality scene. Education and Information Technologies. 5(4), 251-262.
  • Gunderson E. A., Ramirez G., Beilock S. & Levine S. C. (2013). Teachers’ spatial anxiety relates to 1st and 2nd graders’ spatial learning. Mind Brain and Education. 7(3), 196-199.
  • Hacısalihoğlu-Karadeniz, M. (2015). Okul öncesi çocuklarda mekânsal ilişkiler: harita örnekleri. Kastamonu Üniversitesi Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi. 23(4), 1757-1774.
  • Helenius O. Johansson M., Lange T., Meaney T., Riesbeck E. & Wernberg, A. (2014). Preschool teachers' awareness of mathematics. In 9th Swedish mathematics education research seminar, Umeå, February 4-5, 2014.
  • Kayhan E. B. (2005). Investigation of high school students’ spatial ability. Unpublished master’s thesis. Middle East Technical University, Ankara.
  • Keren, G., Ben-David, A. & Fridin, M. (2012). Kindergarten assistive robotics (KAR) as a tool for spatial cognition development in pre-school education. International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, October 7-12, 2012. Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal.
  • Levine S. C., Ratliff K. R., Huttenlocher J. & Cannon J. (2011). Early puzzle play: A predictor of preschoolers’ spatial transformation skill. Developmental Psychology. 48(2), 530-543.
  • Maiorana, S. A. (2014). SPEEDY 3-D: A Study of the Effects of Spatial Ability among College Students. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, State University of New York at Fredonia.
  • Marchis I. (2017). Pre-service primary teachers’ spatial abilities. Acta Didactica Napocensia. 10(2), 123-130.
  • National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (Ed.). (2000). Principles and standards for school mathematics (Vol. 1). Reston: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
  • Newcombe N. S. (2010). Picture this: Increasing math and science learning by improving spatial skills. American Educator. 34(2), 29-43.
  • Newcombe N. S. & Fick A. (2010). Early education for spatial intelligence: Why, what, and how. Mind Brain and Education. 4(3), 102-111.
  • Newcombe N. S. (2013). Seeing Relationships: Using Spatial Thinking to Teach Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies. American Educator, 37(1), 26.
  • National Research Council (2006). Learning to think spatially. Washington DC :National Academies.
  • Olver, A. L. S. (2013). Investigating early spatial and numerical skills in junior kindergarten children learning in an inquiry- and play-based environment. Unpublished master of arts degree dissertation. University of Toronto.
  • Ontario Ministry of Education (2014). Paying attention to spatial reasoning. Ontario: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.
  • Ramirez G., Gunderson E. A., Levine S. C., & Beilock S. L. (2012). Spatial anxiety relates to spatial abilities as a function of working memory in children. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 65(3), 474-487.
  • Shutts K., Örnkloo H., Von Hofsten C., Keen R., & Spelke E. S. (2009). Young children’s representations of spatial and functional relations between objects. Child Development. 80(6), 1612-1627.
  • Şimşek A. (2012). Arştırma modelleri. In Şimşek A. (Eds.) Sosyal Bilimlerde Araştırma Yöntemleri. Eskişehir: Anadolu Üniversitesi.
  • Turgut M. & Yilmaz S. (2012). Relationships among Preservice Primary Mathematics Teachers' Gender, Academic Success and Spatial Ability. International Journal of Instruction, 5(2), 5-20.
  • Turgut M. (2014). Turkish validity studies of an environmental spatial ability scale: Santa Barbara sense of direction. Acta Didactica Universitatis Comenianae Mathematics, 14(1), 87-103.
  • Turgut M. (2015). Development of the spatial ability self-report scale (SASRS): reliability and validity studies. Quality & Quantity, 49(5), 1997-2014.
  • Twyman A., Friedman A. & Spetch M. L. (2007). Penetrating the geometric module: Catalyzing children’s use of landmarks. Developmental Psychology. 43(6), 1523-1530.
  • Uttal D. H., Meadow N. G., Tipton E., Hand L. L., Alden A. R., Warren C. & Newcombe N. S. (2013). The malleability of spatial skills: A meta-analysis of training studies. Psychological Bulletin, 139(2), 352-402.
  • Üstün E. & Akman B. (2003). Üç yaş grubu çocuklarda kavram gelişimi. Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi. 24, 137-141.
  • Vander Heyden K. M., Huizinga M., Kan K. J., & Jolles J. (2016). A developmental perspective on spatial reasoning: Dissociating object transformation from viewer transformation ability. Cognitive Development, 38, 63-74.
  • Vander Heyden, K. M., van Atteveldt, N. M., Huizinga, M., & Jolles, J. (2016). Implicit and explicit gender beliefs in spatial ability: Stronger stereotyping in boys than girls. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1114-1125.
  • van der Ven S. H., van der Maas H. L., Straatemeier M., & Jansen B. R. (2013). Visuospatial working memory and mathematical ability at different ages throughout primary school. Learning and Individual Differences, 27, 182-192.
  • Van Nes F. & Van Eerde D. (2010). Spatial structuring and the development of number sense: A case study of young children working with blocks. The Journal of Mathematical Behavior. 29, 145-159.
  • Verdine B. N., Golinkoff R. M., Hirsh-Pasek K., & Newcombe N. S. (2014). Finding the missing piece: Blocks, puzzles, and shapes fuel school readiness. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 3(1), 7-13.
  • Wei W., Yuan H., Chen C., & Zhou X. (2012). Cognitive correlates of performance in advanced mathematics. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 82(1), 157-181.
  • Whitley-Morris S. (2018). The Effect of Gender on Spatial Ability and Spatial Reasoning among Students in Grades 2-8. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Liberty University.
  • Zambrzycka J. (2014). Improving Preschoolers' Mathematical Performance: The Nature of Spatial Input by Early Childhood Educators. Unpublisged master of art dissertation. Wildfrid Laurier University.
There are 51 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Subjects Other Fields of Education
Journal Section Articles
Authors

Halil İbrahim Korkmaz 0000-0002-0424-6150

Birol Tekin 0000-0001-6828-5274

Publication Date January 9, 2020
Submission Date May 8, 2019
Published in Issue Year 2020 Volume: 13 Issue: 1

Cite

APA Korkmaz, H. İ., & Tekin, B. (2020). Investigating Preschool Teacher Candidates’ Spatial Thinking Skills. Journal of Theoretical Educational Science, 13(1), 191-204. https://doi.org/10.30831/akukeg.561847