All that Lego has a purpose: Researchers find that spatial memory improves kids' mathematical powers
- Reference: 1621618386
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/05/21/visuospatial_learning_maths_skills/
- Source link:
For a long time, it has been observed that the ability to remember the shapes of objects and manipulate them in one's imagination is closely linked with a propensity for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
But there has been a lack of consensus over the exact processes at play and whether training in spatial memory and reasoning could help with performance in maths.
[1]
[2]
[3]
For the first time, researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet have tackled that problem with a study of around 17,000 children between the ages of six and eight years old.
[4]Feature bloat: Psychology boffins find people tend to add elements to solve a problem rather than take things away
[5]What's that, Lassie? Dogs show signs of self-awareness according to peer-reviewed academic study?
[6]Forget about an AI stealing your job, even pigs can be trained to use computers
[7]Big data: Study suggests even a moderate gambling habit is linked to increased mortality and other bad stuff
[8]Belief in 5G conspiracy theories goes hand-in-hand with small explosions of rage, paranoia and violence, researchers claim
PhD student Nicholas Judd and Torkel Klingberg, professor of cognitive neuroscience, wanted to figure out how spatial cognitive training affects mathematical learning, whether it is more effective to train mental rotation or visuospatial working memory, and whether there are differences between individuals that mean there is a cognitive training method more suited to them.
In the study, children spent half their time studying maths, and the other half undertook various types of cognitive training. The latter included controlled mixtures of tangram puzzles, 2D rotation tasks, non-verbal reasoning, and visuospatial working memory tasks.
The researchers had been expecting rotation training to help in learning mathematics. However, it turned out to have the smallest effect.
In actual fact, the research found that training on memory was more effective than both types of rotation training (2D mental rotation and the tangram task). "This suggests that, when it comes to transfer to mathematics, the crucial aspect of spatial training is maintaining a spatial representation, rather than manipulating it," the team said in [9]a paper published in Nature Human Behaviour this week.
[10]
They said the finding suggested the "bottleneck for spatial cognition is the ability to maintain the spatial representation and that individuals with problems relating to mental rotation lose the image they attempt to keep in mind."
With such a large sample size, and working using common classroom tasks, they had something of a coded message for policymakers and researchers in education.
"This study offers a proof of principle that spatial cognitive training transfers to academic abilities. Given the wide range of areas associated with spatial cognition (including not only other fields of mathematics but also science, technology and engineering) it is possible that training transfers to multiple areas, which should be included in any calculation, by teachers and policymakers, of how time-efficient spatial training is relative to training for a particular test," they said.
[11]
The suggestion is that the right kind of training might provide multiple benefits, and relief from the rote teaching of times tables and endless number bonds.
Time to [12]tackle the Space Shuttle with your little one, perhaps? ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YKgtlecV@iefDawMCcmhewAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YKgtlecV@iefDawMCcmhewAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YKgtlecV@iefDawMCcmhewAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/09/people_complicate_things/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/19/dogs_self_awareness/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/11/pigs_can_play_computer_games/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/02/05/big_data_banking_study_reveals/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/06/22/5g_conspiracy_theories_rage_violence_paranoia/
[9] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01118-4
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YKgtlecV@iefDawMCcmhewAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YKgtlecV@iefDawMCcmhewAAANM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/21/lego_space_shuttle_discovery/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Lego and origami
Those were two of my favourite things as a kid. They still are. Maybe they helped, both my brother and I were pretty good in maths and science. OK, a sample size of two is not that significant, I admit :D
Still, time to get some paper and teach a kid how to fold (the traditional goldfish is great, very forgiving, looks good when glued onto blue paper a well!). Then, there's a ton of simple modular flowers, boxes, boats... (and the steam train, which I still struggle with).
Re: Lego and origami
In my case, Meccano, rather than Lego was my starting point, rapidly followed by balsa, glue, model aircraft kits and then building from plans.
Ever since I began to design my own flying models and (briefly *) flew RC models I've been able to visualise new models in 3D before I designed and built them. That's both complete models and partial assemblies. This ability has vastly helped in designing lots of stuff, not just new model aircraft.
* I quickly realised that, for me anyway, flying my own free flight designs in competitions was much more fun than driving RC models round the sky. Better exercise too, since you get to chase and retrieve your model after every flight.
Re: Lego and origami
Origami For me.
My greatest accomplishment was making the 'Jackstone' in Robert Harbin's 'Origami 2 - The Art of Paper-Folding' which I've just pulled off my bookshelf to look at.
Mine is the 1974 Ninth Impression, it's quite fragile now. But so am I.
According to p125 it was created by Jack Stillman.
On the last page of the instructions it says 'You deserve a medal'.
I was so chuffed when I completed it - after many, many failed attempts.
Re: Lego and origami
Lego was good, but I preferred mechano, especially builds that used the motor.
Re: Lego and origami
Would I be right in assuming that you didn't have the Lego motor? Intended to be part of a train set but there was more fun to be had off the rails. The switch lever on the battery box on mine got snapped - Mister_C senior jury-rigged a fix by carving a lolly stick and I learned that things are only broken when you can't find a way to keep them working...
The Swedish school system obviously wants to improve the capabilities of children.
In England the school system is just there to babysit (whilst their parents work) and to enforce conformity on them for later life.
Who knows, this research could cause the English government to ban LEGO?