Little ones who train visual working memory and reasoning activities improve their math skills
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousTraining in mathematics, a game for ... children. Children who train visual working memory and reasoning activities improve their math skills more than children who focus on other types of play, according to a new study.
The results of the study, conducted by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and published in Nature, support the idea that visuospatial memory training can improve academic performance and above all mathematical skills.
In this large randomized study we found that when it comes to improving math learning in young children, the type of cognitive training performed plays a significant role. It is an important finding because it provides strong evidence that cognitive training transfers to a skill other than the one being practiced.
said author Torkel Klingberg, a professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institutet.
Numerous studies have linked visuospatial ability - that is, the ability to understand and remember dimensional relationships between objects - to performance in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Some employers also use spatial skill tests to screen candidates during the hiring process. This has also fueled an interest in spatial cognition training, which focuses on improving the ability to memorize and manipulate various shapes and objects and spot patterns in recurring sequences.
So far, studies to evaluate the effect of space training on school performance have had mixed results. Some showed significant improvement and others no effect.
A systematic review
But the Swedish study involved a large number of participants. In particular, over 17 children between 6 and 8 years of age took part. They completed cognitive training via an app for 20 or 33 minutes a day for 7 weeks. During the first week, the children received identical exercises, after which they were randomly divided into 5 training plans. In all groups, the children spent about half of their time on numerical line-based math assignments. The remaining time was randomly assigned to different proportions of cognitive training in the form of rotation tasks (2D mental rotation and tangram), visual working memory tasks, or non-verbal reasoning tasks. The children's math performance was tested in the first, fifth and seventh week.
Here are some of the activities proposed during the tests:
- In a number line activity, a person is asked to identify the correct position of a number on a line delimited by a starting and ending point. Difficulty is usually moderated by removing spatial cues, such as check marks on the number line, including math problems such as addition, subtraction, and division.
- In a visual working memory activity, a person is asked to remember objects. In this study, the children played a sequence of dots on a grid by touching the screen. The difficulty has been increased by adding more items.
- In a non-verbal reasoning activity, a person is asked to complete sequences of spatial patterns. In this study, the children were asked to choose the correct image to fill in an empty space based on the previous sequences. The difficulty has been increased by adding new dimensions such as colors, shapes and points.
- In a rotation activity, a person is asked to understand what an object would look like if rotated. In this study, children were asked to rotate a 2D object to fit at various angles. The difficulty was moderate by increasing the angle of rotation or the complexity of the object to be rotated.
The results
The researchers found that all of the groups improved math performance, but that reasoning training had the greatest positive impact when it was followed up by activities that engaged working memory.
While it is likely that for any given test, training on that particular skill is the most time-effective way to improve outcomes, our study offers proof of principle that spatial cognitive training carries over to academic skills. Given the wide range of areas associated with spatial cognition, it is possible for training to transfer across multiple areas and we believe this should be included in any calculation by teachers and policy makers
sostiene Torkel Klingberg.
Even if other studies will be needed to deepen the discovery, training the visuospatial memory proves to be very useful not only for mathematics: it is also fundamental for drawing, writing, for visually memorizing information, recognizing geometric shapes, column or align numbers, letters, objects, orient yourself and move in space. And it's fun too!
Sources of reference: Nature Human Behavior, Karolinska Institutet / Sciencedaily
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