TRAINING OF SPATIAL ABILITIES THROUGH TRANSFORMATIONAL GEOMETRY

New technologies in education are placing more emphasis upon visual an d spatial skills, if learning material is mbedded in complex hypermedi a which require students to navigate through complex virtual spaces. T his raises the question of how visuospatial ability is related to acad emic performance, and how it can be improved. This paper explores thes e issues in the context of instruction in transformational geometry by analysing the effects of two instructional conditions on the performa nce in transformational geometry and on visuospatial abilities. The tw o instructional conditions examined were (a) a traditional textbook ap proach involving paper-and-pencil tasks and verbal instruction (Tradit ional Group), and (b) an approach incorporating object manipulation, a nd visual imagery, which was designed to encourage_ spatial thinking ( Spatial Group). Other predictors included pretest spatial ability, pre test geometry, sex, and handedness. Subjects were Grade 7/8 students ( age 13-14). High prior knowledge subjects performed better in the spat ial group, whereas low prior knowledge subjects had higher scores in t he traditional group. Posttest spatial ability was predicted by handed ness, pretest geometry, pretest spatial ability, and the interaction o f pretest spatial ability and handedness. Less right-handed subjects o f low spatial ability improved on spatial ability more than their more right-handed peers. The results raise concerns about the needs of stu dents who may be disadvantaged in complex visual instructional setting s requiring sophisticated visuospatial skills.