Visual-Spatial Reasoning, the Key to Critical Three worlds of
learning come together to construct new ideas in By Doris Wells-Papanek, MEd Director, Design Learning Network John Hattie’s (2009) model of learning is anchored in making sense of three worlds, the physical world (surface knowledge), the subjective world (thinking strategies and deeper understandings), and one's own world of ideas blended with reality (the construction of surface knowledge and deeper understandings within context). New ways of thinking serve as conceptual artifacts that can be then be articulated to others. Simply put, visual-spatial reasoning is one’s own ability to think and then construct new ideas in the mind’s eye and problem-solve prior to sharing. Hattie, John. Visible Learning: A Synthesis of over 800Meta-analyses Relating to Achievement. London: Routledge, 2009. From a student’s perspective, what
level of impact might the purposeful development Student
Presentations at the KC2016 Design Learning Challenge on March 5, KCAI-Hosted
Culminating Event
Constructing New Ways of Thinking Yields
High-Impact on Cognitive Growth Hattie’s
research has revealed that when conceptual artifacts become real things, real
opportunities for learning can take place so all can be involved, recognize new
ideas, and improve understandings. Learners continue the cycle by thinking and constructing
new alternatives as well as offering criticisms, morphing one idea to another,
proposing problems and possible solutions including challenging those new
proposals as well. The progression of thinking new thoughts, constructing new
ideas, and building new understandings are essential to learners as they become
creative problem-solvers – and are anchored in a fundamental cognitive
construct known as visual-spatial reasoning. In turn, the purposeful
development of visual-spatial reasoning has significant impact on the cognitive
growth of young people, especially when they are solving problems,
collaborating with others, and articulating their learnings.
Integrating Visual-Spatial Reasoning
into Teaching and Learning We
have established that the ability to visualize and make sense of the world
around us in our mind’s eye is critical to the development of successful
learners. Dr. Betty Garner (2007), in her book, GettingTo Got It! describes
visualization as the ability to mentally represent and manipulate information,
ideas, feelings, and sensory experiences. Spatial orientation is the ability to
identify and compare where objects and places are in relationship to each other
and to oneself. Understanding spatial orientations allows us to see new
relationships that we can then transform those patterns into meaning, and when
ready articulate these conceptual artifacts to others to expand one’s
connections.
Visual-Spatial Reasoning as
Integrator and Facilitator of Problem-Solving The
Committee on Support for Thinking Spatially was formed to investigate the
impact and power of spatial thinking largely based on the primary research
conducted by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953 on the molecular structure
of the gene coupled with the visual mapping of DNA structure, The Double Helix: AClassic Example of Spatial Thinking. Liken to the
extraordinary findings of Watson and Crick, the committee came to the
conclusion that spatial thinking is at the heart of many great discoveries in
science, that it underpins many of the activities of the modern workforce, and
that it pervades the everyday activities of modern life. In 2006, the committee
produced a report that was published by the National Academy of Sciences, Learning to ThinkSpatially. The document argues for systemic educational
change along with a national commitment to support spatial literacy. The
committee’s report recommends that spatial thinking must be recognized as a
fundamental and necessary part of the process of K-12 education rather than one
more piece to be added on to an already overburdened curricular structure.
Instead, they see spatial thinking as an integrator and a facilitator for
problem solving-across the curriculum. By integrating spatial thinking into the
curriculum, the committee encourages K-12 educators to equip the next
generation of students for life and work in the twenty-first century with
visual-spatial reasoning skills.
Committee on Support for Thinking
Spatially Takeaways The
Committee on Support for Thinking Spatially stated the following in Chapter 2
of their report:
Spatial thinking
is integral to everyday life. People, natural objects, Furthermore, the committee recommends that spatially literate students develop the following characteristics:
Link to Longitudinal Study on the
Impact of Spatial Ability in Creativity and Innovation Abstract: “In the late
1970s, 563 intellectually talented 13-year-olds (identified by the SAT as in
the top 0.5% of ability) were assessed on spatial ability. More than 30 years
later, the present study evaluated whether spatial ability provided incremental
validity (beyond the SAT’s mathematical and verbal reasoning subtests) for
differentially predicting which of these individuals had patents and three
classes of refereed publications. A two-step discriminant-function analysis
revealed that the SAT subtests jointly accounted for 10.8% of the variance
among these outcomes (p < .01); when spatial ability was added, an
additional 7.6% was accounted for—a statistically significant increase (p <
.01). The findings indicate that spatial ability has a unique role in the
development of creativity, beyond the roles played by the abilities
traditionally measured in educational selection, counseling, and
industrial-organizational psychology. Spatial ability plays a key and unique
role in structuring many important psychological phenomena and should be
examined more broadly across the applied and basic psychological sciences.”
Kell, Harrison J., David Lubinski, Camilla P. Benbow,
and James H. Steiger. "Creativity and Technical Innovation." Creativity
and Technical Innovation. Sage Journals,Psychological Science, 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. |