Building Up: Educational Habits That Nurture Spatial Talent

Abstract

Decades of research point to the value and importance of spatial skills and have demonstrated the malleability, durability, and teachability of spatial skills across the lifespan. Teachers and caregivers can apply this research in their classrooms or homes through a wide range of strategies. In this article, we offer specific, engaging activities that can be deployed across multiple curricular areas and at home to nurture a range of spatial skills, such as spatial transformations and spatial comparisons. Just as we incorporate reading into thousands of interactions with the children around us, from reading road signs to sharing our favorite books, so too do the children need spatial thinking infused into our daily interactions with them. While we offer ideas for use both in the classroom and at home, that border is permeable; many of the classroom activities can be done at home, and many of the home activities can be adapted for classroom use.