10 tips for improving spatial skills in children and teens

2016 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved

Spatial skills predict a young persons achievement in science, technology,

engineering, and mathematics. They are crucial for the mechanic, visual artist,
architect, and surgeon.

Yet traditional schooling does relatively little to foster the development of

these abilities, and that's troubling. As I note elsewhere, studies indicate that
people can improve their spatial skills with training, sometimes with dramatic
results. What are the practical applications of this research? How can we help
kids develop excellent spatial skills?

Here is a list of evidence-based tactics and activities.

1. Encourage active, physical exploration of the real world

Experiments suggest that infants can learn rapidly about three dimensional
shapes. Within days of birth, babies seem to understand that the apparent size
of an object will change as it moves closer or farther away. Newborns also
show signs of visually recognizing objects they have previously touched, but
not seen. This suggests babies can map tactile information onto some sort of
internal, visual simulation of the 3-D world (Streri et al 2013; Slater et al
1990).

So the capacity is there, but it doesn't develop by magic. Children need raw
data. They need to feel shapes and textures, and explore objects hands-on. By
9 months, researchers have detected differences in the spatial skills of infants.
The babies with superior mental rotation abilities are the ones who spend more
time handling and investigating objects (Schwarzer et al 2013). Other
experiments indicate that hands-on experiences with objects can improve a
toddler's ability to track items through space (Frick and Wang 2014). When we
insist that kids "look but don't touch" we are likely hampering the development
of spatial skills.

2. Seize everyday opportunities for spatial thinking and spatial talk

In their review of the research on spatial skills in young children, psychologists
Nora Newcombe and Andrea Frick (2010) note that opportunities to practice
spatial skills are everywhere. Adults can stimulate spatial thinking by asking
kids questions, and engaging them in conversation:

"Which way does the sheet fit on the bed? Does the left shoelace go over or
underand which one is the left? Will the groceries fit in one bag? Which
shapes do I get if I cut my bagel the other wayand will it still fit in the
toaster? For young children, these questions are challenging and provide
ample opportunities to learn and think about space."

These conversations are also opportunities for children to learn new vocabulary
-- words that will help kids reason about spatial properties,
like over and under. Tall and short. Bent and curvy. Triangle, rectangle, cube,
and sphere. Common sense suggests that kids who learn such terms are more
likely to use them when they talk, and that will help them tap into the power
of verbal explanation. Studies show that children learn concepts better when
they are asked to explain what they discover to other people.

Moreover, longitudinal research hints that youngsters who are chatty about
spatial concepts end up with superior spatial skills. When Shannon Pruden and
her colleagues tracked the development of 52 babies, the researchers found
that early exposure to spatial language predicted higher spatial ability later on.
Kids who had heard and used a lot of spatial terminology scored higher on
spatial skills tests when they 42 months old. For details, see my blog
post "Early IQ boost: Beyond language and math."

3. Provide kids with tools for building structures, and boost

enthusiasm by getting involved yourself
An array of evidence suggests that children develop better spatial skills when
they build and create with blocks. For more information, see this article and
the accompanying list of tips for sparking a young child's interest in block play.

4. Introduce construction games that challenge kids to "match the

design"
Research hints that a particular form of block play, called structured block
play,may be especially valuable. This is when kids are shown the "blueprints"
for a structure and given a set of blocks to recreate it. In recent experiments,
8-year-old children showed measurable improvements in their mental rotation
abilities after just five, 30-minute play sessions. Post-training, they also
showed changes in brain activity, suggesting that these kids had changed the
way they processed spatial information (Newman et al 2016).

You can create your own sessions of structured block play at home with
wooden blocks, interlocking plastic blocks (like Lego or Mega Bloks) , Keva
planks, Lincoln Logs, and Tinker Toys.

For the budding engineer, I also like the Equilibrio Game, a set of 18 plastic
blocks that come with 60 illustrations of structures to be erected. As the name
suggests, part of the challenge is getting the structures to remain in balance,
so concentration and fine motor skills are required.

And whatever your chosen medium, don't forget to keep up the conversation.
"Match-the-design" construction games may be helpful, in part, because they
stimulate spatial talk (Ferrara et al 2011).

5. Encourage children to use and create maps

By the age of 3 or 4, most kids are ready to learn simple lessons about maps.
For instance, young children can learn to interpret a map of their living room
floor plan, and then use a map to show where, in the real room, they have
hidden a toy (Shusterman et al 2008; Vasilyeva and Huttenlocher 2004).

Older kids can handle more complex maps, and they benefit from structured
mapping activities, especially ones that require them to explain their choices.

For example, in a study of American 4th graders, kids were given incomplete
maps of their school yard and asked to (1) locate unmarked features (like a
flagpole) and (2) place stickers on their maps to indicate where these features
could be found (Kastens and Liben 2007). Some kids were quite accurate.
Other kids were far off the mark. But when kids were asked to write down
what clues they used to decide where the stickers should go, they performed
much better.

Its a finding thats consistent with other studies: Kids learn better when they
have to explain how they solve problems.

Do such mapping exercises improve a childs general spatial skills, and, if so,
how? Thats not yet clear. But the sticker-placement study suggests that
guided activities force children to pay close attention to spatial cues and
shifting visual perspectives. Theyre practicing spatial thinking, and they are
learning how to read maps which is an important spatial skill.

So researchers and educators promote the use of maps with children. But
remember to start with simple tasks, and realize that its normal for kids to
have trouble translating their first-person spatial knowledge into a birds eye
view. In one study, less than 30% of first and second graders could identify
their own schools distinctive U-shaped building plan from a birds eye view
map (Liben and Downs 1989).

Wondering how to begin? For young children, a good resource is the book, As
the Crow Flies: A First Book of Maps . It helps children think about seeing the
world from a bird's eye view. For children in primary school, another helpful
book is Loreen Leedy's Mapping Penny's World

6. Expose kids to tangrams and other spatial puzzles

I haven't seen any controlled experiments testing the effects of tangrams or

jigsaw puzzles on the development of spatial skills. But it seems pretty clear
that puzzle-solving ability and spatial intelligence are linked.

For example, in an observational study, researchers tracked the behavior of

toddlers from the age of two, and then tested the children's spatial abilities
when they were four and a half. The more frequently kids played with puzzles,
the more likely they were to finish the study with high test scores (Levine et al
2011).

The U.S. National Council of Teachers Mathematics promotes the use of

tangrams to teach spatial skills. Read more about tangrams and find links to
several tangram resources -- here.

7. Let kids experiment with photography

As Nora Newcombe points out, photography encourages kids to experiment
with different camera angles and different senses of scale (Newcombe 2010).
For ideas to inspire childrens photography projects, see my article Digital
cameras for kids: Cool tools and windows into the minds of children."

8. Play action video games (and Tetris too)

We sometimes hear bad things about video games. Some people are
concerned about the effects that too much game time can have on a childs
homework performance, physical fitness, and ability to pay attention in school.
There is also evidence that violent video games change behavior in undesirable
ways, at least in the short-term.

But research suggests that video game technology may have important
applications for the training of spatial skills. In several experiments
replicated different research groups young adults with weak spatial skills
have made substantial improvements after relatively brief experience playing
high-paced, "first-person shooter" action video games.

If such games sound violent, they usually are. But it's the spatial information,
not the violence that makes these games useful for spatial training. And some
non-violent first-person shooter games do exist -- like Mirror's Edge, Greg
Hastings Paintball, and Pirate Blast. Parents looking for age-appropriate, non-
violent first-person shooter games can try searching the Common Sense Media
website for reviews.

In addition, you might try the classic video game, Tetris. In an experiment on
college undergraduates, Melissa Terlecki and colleagues (2008) asked
undergraduates to take weekly practice tests of mental rotation. In addition,
some students were randomly assigned to spend an hour each week playing
Tetris. Other students were assigned to play a non-spatial computer game
(Solitaire).

At the end of twelve weeks, both groups had made big improvements on the
mental rotation task. But unlike the non-gamers, the students with the
supplemental Tetris training also showed transfer effects -- improvements on
other, related tests of spatial thinking. These improvements were still evident
when the students were re-tested 2-4 months later.

9. Encourage kids to use gestures when solving spatial problems

Experiments demonstrate that adults and children solve problems more readily
when they are allowed to gesture. In one study, people were better at
performing mental rotation tasks (a key measure of spatial thinking) when
they were encouraged to use their hands (Chu and Kita 2011). In another, 5-
year-olds who spontaneously gestured during spatial problem-solving were
more like to get the right answer (Ehrlich et al 2006).

Read more about the many cognitive benefits of gesturing in my article, "The
science of gestures: Why its good for kids to talk with their hands."

10. Be prepared for gradual progress

In a popular article for American Education, Nora Newcombe (2010) stresses
that students with poor spatial skills are often slow to improve in the
beginning. So if you start a program of spatial skills training, dont be
discouraged if kids don't show improvements right away. It may take 6
sessions or more before you notice a difference.
More reading
For a quick overview of the evidence that we can improve spatial skills with
training, see my article, "Spatial intelligence: Why training matters."

In addition, check out the writings of Nora S. Newcombe, a professor of

cognitive development and expert in the development of spatial cognition. Her
article Picture this: Increasing math and science learning by improving spatial
thinking" is a non-technical review for school teachers.

For the academically-inclined, I also recommend her review Early education

for spatial intelligence: Why, what and how," coauthored with Andrea Frick.
You can download this, on many other academic papers, at Newcombes
personal website. Finally, pay a visit to the Spatial Intelligence and Learning
Center,Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center, an impressive online resource
created by researchers and associated with the National Science Foundation.

References: Tips for improving spatial skills in children and teens

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image of girl peering through rectangle by Yoshihito / flickr

image of mother and boy by Bill Strain / flickr

image of boy with map by ZIP / wikimedia / flickr

Image of paper icosohedrons by Andrew Turner / flickr

Image of girl by Nevit Dilmen / wikimedia commons

Content last modified 12/16