Spatial Reasoning in the Early Years

Brent Davis is Professor and Distinguished Research Chair of the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.The Spatial Reasoning Study Group is a transdisciplinary team of researchers from across North America with its hub at the University of Calgary. Its members work in and across mathematics education, mathematics, psychology, curriculum studies, and cognitive science. The group currently includes Catherine D. Bruce, Beverly Caswell, Lissa D’Amour, Brent Davis, Michelle Drefs, Krista Francis, David Hallowell, Zachary Hawes, Donna Kotsopoulos, Lynn McGarvey, Joan Moss, Yukari Okamoto, Paulino Preciado, Nathalie Sinclair, Diane Tepylo, Jennifer S. Thom, and Walter Whiteley.

• Section 1. What is spatial reasoning and why should we care? 1. What is spatial reasoning? 2. The development of spatial reasoning in young children 3. Developing spatial thinking: implications for early mathematics education Section 2. If spatial reasoning is so important, why has it taken so long to be noticed? 4. A history and analysis of current curriculum 5. Spatial knowing, doing, and being Section 3. What are the curricular and pedagogical implications of spatial reasoning? 6. Spatializing the curriculum 7. Motion and markings 8. Interactions between three dimensions and two dimensions Section 4: And so? What kind of research agenda might we need to pursue? 9. Spatializing school mathematics References Index

"Written by an impressive team of multi-disciplinary mathematicians and cognitive scientists, this is a cutting edge read peppered with endearing vignettes and anecdotes of children’s play and their response to various learning experiences." – Martine Horvath, eye magazine"This book makes a powerful case for spatializing the elementary school mathematics curriculum. Written by an impressive interdisciplinary team of mathematicians, mathematics educators and cognitive scientists, it presents a cutting-edge and broad-ranging synthesis, set in historical and policy contexts, and illustrated with lovely vignettes of children’s play and their responses to lessons." - Nora S. Newcombe, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology, Temple University"This comprehensive book fills a pernicious gap in the field of mathematics education by describing and analyzing spatial reasoning, a critical competence that is often underemphasized or ignored by educators. Educators who implement these research-based recommendations will help young students form solid foundations for later learning, not just in the more palpable cases of geometry and measurement but across the domains of number, arithmetic, and algebra as well. This book makes a clear case—including theory, research, and concrete practice— for an expanded role of spatial and geometric thinking from the earliest years, one that all educators should read and integrate into their work."- Douglas H. Clements, Kennedy Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning; Executive Director, Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy; and Professor