Kindergarten children's sensitivity to geometry in maps

Geometrical concepts are critical to a host of human cognitive achievements, from maps to measurement to mathematics, and both the development of these concepts, and their variation by gender, have long been studied. Most studies of geometrical reasoning, however, present children with materials con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental science 2011-07, Vol.14 (4), p.809-821
Main Authors: Spelke, Elizabeth S., Gilmore, Camilla K., McCarthy, Shannon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child
Child Development
Child, Preschool
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Female
Gender Differences
Geometric Concepts
Geometry
Humans
Kindergarten
Kindergarten students
Male
Maps as Topic
Mathematical Concepts
Mathematical Logic
Navigation
Sex Factors
Space Perception
Spatial Ability
Spatial Behavior
Visual Perception
Young Children
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Summary:Geometrical concepts are critical to a host of human cognitive achievements, from maps to measurement to mathematics, and both the development of these concepts, and their variation by gender, have long been studied. Most studies of geometrical reasoning, however, present children with materials containing both geometric and non‐geometric information, and with tasks that are open to multiple solution strategies. Here we present kindergarten children with a task requiring a focus on geometry: navigation in a small‐scale space by a purely geometric map. Children spontaneously extracted and used relationships of both distance and angle in the maps, without prior demonstration, instruction, or feedback, but they failed to use the sense information that distinguishes an array from its mirror image. Children of both genders showed a common profile of performance, with boys showing no advantage on this task. These findings provide evidence that some map‐reading abilities arise prior to formal instruction, are common to both genders, and are used spontaneously to guide children’s spatial behavior.
ISSN:1363-755X
1467-7687
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.01029.x