Spatial Skills Activities in the Middle School Mathematics Teachers' Toolkit: The Impact of Spatial Skill Activities on Mathematical Thinking

This study investigated the impact of the incorporation of spatial skill activities into their pedagogical repertoire by middle school mathematics teachers on the mathematical reasoning of their students. Current research suggests that success in spatial reasoning is a strong predictor of success in STEM fields, and is known to be strong in successful mathematicians (Newcombe, 2013; Tepylo Moss, 2013; Uttal et al., 2012). In this study, teachers replaced starter activities three or more times per week with hands-on spatial skill problems that required mental rotation and spatial visualization to solve. While there have been many studies linking spatial skill to success in mathematics, there are few studies that attempt to establish a relationship through intervention in a middle school classroom. Findings suggest that incorporating spatial skill activities into mathematics lessons had a positive impact on both the teachersâ reflective practice and the studentsâ learning skills. While there was some improvement in mathematical reasoning, it was not possible to definitively attribute this to the spatial skill activities.Ph.D