Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Developmental Psychology
Understanding The Home Spatial Environment, Nelcida L. Garcia
Understanding The Home Spatial Environment, Nelcida L. Garcia
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Spatial thinking encompasses several related skills including understanding size, shape, translation and rotation of objects, and distance between objects. Individual differences in spatial thinking are important predictors of children’s math and science achievement, as well as later entry into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. This dissertation proposes Relational Developmental Systems Theory as a lens to study spatial development. Informed by Relational Developmental Systems Theory, two empirical studies examined whether mothers’ characteristics affected their parenting practices, and in turn, their children’s spatial abilities (i.e., mental rotation, spatial scaling). First, in a sample of 165 mother-child dyads, mothers’ spatial ability …
The Development Of Early Spatial Thinking, Carla Abad
The Development Of Early Spatial Thinking, Carla Abad
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The different spatial experiences in the lives of young boys and girls may partly explain sex differences in spatial skills (Baenninger & Newcombe, 1995; Nazareth et al., 2013; Newcombe, Bandura & Taylor, 1983). While several studies have examined the influence of spatial activities on the development of spatial skills (e.g., Nazareth et al., 2013) there currently exists no widely used comprehensive measure to assess children’s concurrent participation in spatial activities and engagement with spatial toys. Study 1 of the current dissertation filled this gap in the field of spatial research through the creation of the Spatial Activity Questionnaire, a comprehensive …