Spatial Ability and Mathematical Achievement of Elementary School Students

Abstract

Summary: Spatial ability is valued as one component of intelligence and is associated with achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and important in STEM education. The purpose of this study is to assess elementary school students' spatial ability and analyze the relationship with mathematical achievement, gender and grade level. This study explores the spatial visualization ability of 1288 elementary school students (grade 4--6) in Seoul and Gangwon province and investigates the association between spatial ability and students' mathematics achievement, and the students' spatial ability according to their gender and grade level. As a result, this study shows that there are significant correlations between spatial ability and mathematics achievement. And also, boys are better than girls in spatial ability and higher grades are better than lower grades in spatial ability. According to these results, spatial ability should be included as one of the important components in identifying students for gifted education programs. Furthermore, more research is needed on how to effectively structure educational opportunities to students both those who have high spatial ability and those who have low spatial ability.