Spatial thinking skills mediated by communication processes in preschool children

Abstract

Several studies have shown the relationship between math skills and language skills. The main objective of this investigation is to identify preschool children’s spatial thinking skills, achieved through communication processes and also to identify the information transmission and reception skills acquired by children in relation to the development of spatial skills. The whole process of this research is based on the Didactic Engineering methodology, through which four didactic situations (DSs) were designed. The design is non-experimental with an established group. The sample consists of 73 preschool boys and girls aged between five and six years. The results show that once the ability to send and receive messages is acquired, students developed mathematical thinking about their location in space according to a coordinate system, as well as the ability to give instructions in which distance, direction, and orientation relationships appear. Keywords: language, communication, mathematics, spatial thinking, didactic engineering