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Spatial ability in primary school: effects of the Tridio® learning material

Bakker, M. (2008) Spatial ability in primary school: effects of the Tridio® learning material.

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Abstract:The Tridio® learning material, consisting of cubes and mosaic pieces and accompanying exercises involving isometric and orthogonal views, has been developed with the aim of enhancing children's spatial ability. This study investigated the effects of Tridio on 5th-graders' (11-year-olds') spatial ability, categorized in J. B. Carroll's (1993) factors spatial relations (SR) and visualization (VZ). A matched-pairs pretest-posttest design (25 pairs) was used. Experimental group children received a training with Tridio, consisting of five individual 30 min sessions. SR was measured using the Card Rotations test and the Flags test; the Paper Folding test and the Mental Rotations test were used as tests of VZ. The appropriateness of these tests for 11-year-olds was first examined in a pilot study. Furthermore, a content-specific test of Tridio performance was administered. Partial correlations between the content-specific and the spatial ability test scores, controlling for school performance, indicated that Tridio adds to the general school curriculum in focusing on spatial ability, but that not all types of Tridio exercises contribute to this. Transfer effects of the Tridio training on spatial ability were, however, not found. With a higher power, effects on SR may be found, but probably not on VZ. The found lack of effect on VZ may be due to the young age of the participants, or to the fact that many children did not get to the more complex Tridio exercises. Content-specific effects were present, indicating that children possibly learned something other than spatial ability
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies
Programme:Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/58874
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