SPATIAL VISUALIZATION ABILITY: EFFECTS OF LONG TERM PRACTICE AND RELATIONSHIP TO MATHEMATICAL ABILITY.

This investigation was designed to test a hypothesis formulated by Julia Sherman (1967) concerning the development of spatial visualization and mathematic skills. The intention of the study was to examine the influence of early physical training on spatial visualization and mathematic skills, to determine whether intensive training in spatial relations would have a differential impact on male/female spatial performance and to gather information concerning the relationship between spatial visualization and mathematic performance. The investigation was divided into three studies and used 166 college students as subjects. Study one examined the impact of long term physical training, gymnastics, on spatial visualization and mathematic scores of two matched-groups selected from 99 subjects. The two groups, gymnast and control, each consisted of 28 subjects (14 males and 14 females) and were matched on IQ score, age, ethnic group, socioeconomic status, parental and sex-role identification, achievement motivation and years of training in other sports. Gymnasts averaged 5.5 years of gymnastic training: the control group had none. Study two examined spatial visualization scores obtained by 67 architectural students (49 males and 18 females) before and after a semester's training in spatial relations. Study three compared scores obtained by all 166 subjects on the Shepard Metzler Mental Rotation Test and a mathematic test derived from the Otis Test of Mental Abilities. The test of the hypothesis relating to the influence of early physical training on spatial and mathematic performance was not successful as the training of the gymnasts did not extend to early childhood. While significant sex-related differences favoring males were found in spatial performance, the amount of variance in spatial scores accounted for by sex was small, only 8%. No significant sex-related differences in mathematic performance were found. In study two, both males and females significantly improved spatial performance following training, but females did not demonstrate a significantly greater rate of improvement as predicted. The results of the third study indicated a moderate positive relationship between spatial and mathematic performance, however, no evidence was found to support a direct causal relationship between spatial skill and mathematic performance