University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Rue P.A. de Faucigny 2, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland.
Psychol Res. 2019 Oct;83(7):1465-1484. doi: 10.1007/s00426-018-1008-5. Epub 2018 Apr 10.
Using a longitudinal approach, this study investigated the relational structure of different spatial transformation skills at kindergarten age, and how these spatial skills relate to children's later mathematics performance. Children were tested at three time points, in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade (N = 119). Exploratory factor analyses revealed two subcomponents of spatial transformation skills: one representing egocentric transformations (mental rotation and spatial scaling), and one representing allocentric transformations (e.g., cross-sectioning, perspective taking). Structural equation modeling suggested that egocentric transformation skills showed their strongest relation to the part of the mathematics test tapping arithmetic operations, whereas allocentric transformations were strongly related to Numeric-Logical and Spatial Functions as well as geometry. The present findings point to a tight connection between early mental transformation skills, particularly the ones requiring a high level of spatial flexibility and a strong sense for spatial magnitudes, and children's mathematics performance at the beginning of their school career.
本研究采用纵向研究方法，探讨了幼儿园年龄不同空间转换技能的关系结构，以及这些空间技能如何与儿童后期的数学表现相关。研究共纳入 119 名儿童，在幼儿园、一年级和二年级三个时间点进行了测试。探索性因素分析揭示了空间转换技能的两个子成分：一个代表自我中心转换（心理旋转和空间缩放），另一个代表他心中心转换（例如，横断、透视）。结构方程模型表明，自我中心转换技能与测试中涉及算术运算的部分表现出最强的关系，而他心中心转换则与数字逻辑和空间功能以及几何关系密切。本研究结果表明，早期的心理转换技能，特别是那些需要高水平的空间灵活性和强烈的空间大小感的技能，与儿童在学校生涯早期的数学表现密切相关。
