Abstract
A body of literature shows the significant role of visual-spatial skills played in the improvement of mathematical skills in the primary school. The main goal of the current study was to investigate the impact of a combined visuo-spatial and mathematical training on the improvement of mathematical skills in 146 second graders of several schools located in Italy. Participants were presented single pencil-and-paper visuo-spatial or mathematical trainings, computerised version of the above mentioned treatments, as well as a combined version of computer-assisted and pencil-and-paper visuo-spatial and mathematical trainings, respectively. Experimental groups were presented with training for 3 months, once a week. All children were treated collectively both in computer-assisted or pencil-and-paper modalities. At pre and post-test all our participants were presented with a battery of objective tests assessing numerical and visuo-spatial abilities. Our results suggest the positive effect of different types of training for the empowerment of visuo-spatial and numerical abilities. Specifically, the combination of computerised and pencil-and-paper versions of visuo-spatial and mathematical trainings are more effective than the single execution of the software or of the pencil-and-paper treatment.
Highlights
Mathematics is one of the basic school subjects that involves different psychological factors [1, 2, 3]
The mean and standard deviations for the scales of AC-MT (Written calculation, Accuracy, Speed, Semantic and Syntactic numerical knowledge) and CPM were examined; we evaluated the Pearson r correlation to investigate the linear relationship between dimensions inquired in two moments; as expected, we observed positive correlations among mathematical and visuo-spatial abilities
Computerised-assisted and/or paper-and-pencil single or combined treatments were proposed to 146 second graders, attending several Italian primary schools
Summary
Mathematics is one of the basic school subjects that involves different psychological factors [1, 2, 3]. Working memory is involved in controlling, regulating, processing and actively maintaining related information to carry out different cognitive tasks (e.g. mathematical processing) [7]. In this regard, visual-spatial working memory efficiency is an important factor in understanding individual differences in mathematic achievement in children [3]. Visual mental images and non verbal reasoning are strictly related to higher performance in mathematical problem solving tasks [e.g. 9, 10]. In this regards, the use of visual aids favours the development of the quantity concept in early primary
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