Gilligan Katie A, Flouri Eirini, Farran Emily K
Department of Psychology and Human Development, UCL Institute of Education, University College London, 25, Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AA, UK.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2017 Nov;163:107-125. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.04.016. Epub 2017 Jul 26.
Strong spatial skills are associated with success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains. Although there is convincing evidence that spatial skills are a reliable predictor of mathematical achievement in preschool children and in university students, there is a lack of research exploring associations between spatial and mathematics achievement during the primary school years. To address this question, this study explored associations between mathematics and spatial skills in children aged 5 and 7years. The study sample included 12,099 children who participated in both Wave 3 (mean age=5; 02 [years; months]) and Wave 4 (mean age=7; 03) of the Millennium Cohort Study. Measures included a standardised assessment of mathematics and the Pattern Construction subscale of the British Ability Scales II to assess intrinsic-dynamic spatial skills. Spatial skills at 5 and 7years of age explained a significant 8.8% of the variation in mathematics achievement at 7years, above that explained by other predictors of mathematics, including gender, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and language skills. This percentage increased to 22.6% without adjustment for language skills. This study expands previous findings by using a large-scale longitudinal sample of primary school children, a population that has been largely omitted from previous research exploring associations between spatial ability and mathematics achievement. The finding that early and concurrent spatial skills contribute to mathematics achievement at 7years of age highlights the potential of spatial skills as a novel target in the design of mathematics interventions for children in this age range.
较强的空间技能与在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域取得成功相关。尽管有令人信服的证据表明空间技能是学龄前儿童和大学生数学成绩的可靠预测指标，但缺乏对小学阶段空间技能与数学成绩之间关联的研究。为解决这个问题，本研究探讨了5岁和7岁儿童数学与空间技能之间的关联。研究样本包括12099名儿童，他们参与了千禧队列研究的第3波（平均年龄 = 5岁02个月）和第4波（平均年龄 = 7岁03个月）。测量方法包括数学的标准化评估以及英国能力量表II的图案构建子量表，以评估内在动态空间技能。5岁和7岁时的空间技能解释了7岁时数学成绩变异的8.8%，这一比例高于包括性别、社会经济地位、种族和语言技能在内的其他数学预测因素所解释的比例。在不调整语言技能的情况下，这一比例增至22.6%。本研究通过使用大规模的小学儿童纵向样本扩展了先前的研究结果，此前探索空间能力与数学成绩之间关联的研究基本忽略了这一群体。早期和同时期的空间技能有助于7岁儿童的数学成绩这一发现，凸显了空间技能作为该年龄范围儿童数学干预设计新目标的潜力。
