ABSTRACT
Spatial skills are closely linked to math achievement. One theory to explain this link is that spatial skills facilitate the development of a mental sense of an orderly progression of numbers—or a mental number line—crucial for understanding numerical relations and transformations (arithmetic). Facility with spatial language also plays an important role. There is evidence of both a socioeconomic (SES) and a sex (gender) gap in children’s spatial skills favoring higher-income children and boys, which may help explain similar gaps in later math achievement. In particular, there is a striking SES disparity in math SAT scores. A less severe sex gap is evident among top math achievers, relating to differences in problem-solving strategies, in which males prefer intuitive approaches, while females prefer verbal, analytical methods, leaving males better equipped to solve novel, non-standard problems. SES and sex differences in spatial skills are evident in early childhood. Sex differences in spatial skills may also help to explain female math anxiety. Fortunately, spatial skills are malleable, and there is evidence that training spatial skills may transfer to math improvement as well. This chapter provides classroom spatial activities that may appeal to all children.
