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Spatial skills support STEM learning and achievement. However, children from low‐socioeconomic (SES) backgrounds typically lag behind their middle‐ and high‐SES peers. We asked whether a digital educational app—designed to mirror an already successful, spatial assembly training program using concrete materials—would be as effective for facilitating spatial skills in under‐resourced preschoolers as the concrete materials. Three‐year‐olds (N = 61) from under‐resourced backgrounds were randomly assigned to a business‐as‐usual control group or to receive 5 weeks of spatial training using either concrete, tangible materials or a digital app on a tablet. The spatial puzzles used were an extension of items from the Test of Spatial Assembly (TOSA). Preschoolers were pretested and posttested on new two‐dimensional (2D) TOSA trials. Results indicate that both concrete and digital spatial training increased performance on the 2D‐TOSA compared to the control group. The two trainings did not statistically differ from one another suggesting that educational spatial apps may be one route to providing early foundational skills to children from under‐resourced backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the development of spatial skills is important for promoting school readiness and improving overall success in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields (e.g., Wai, Lubinski, Benbow, & Steiger, 2010). Children use their spatial skills to understand the world, including visualizing how objects fit together, and can practice them via spatial assembly activities (e.g., puzzles or blocks). These skills are incorporated into measures of overall intelligence and have been linked to success in subjects like mathematics (Mix & Cheng, 2012) and science (Pallrand & Seeber, 1984; Pribyl & Bodner, 1987). This monograph sought to answer four questions about early spatial skill development: 1) Can we reliably measure spatial skills in 3‐ and 4‐year‐olds?; 2) Do spatial skills measured at 3 predict spatial skills at age 5?; 3) Do preschool spatial skills predict mathematics skills at age 5?; and 4) What factors contribute to individual differences in preschool spatial skills (e.g., SES, gender, fine‐motor skills, vocabulary, and executive function)? Longitudinal data generated from a new spatial skill test for 3‐year‐old children, called the TOSA (Test of Spatial Assembly), show that it is a reliable and valid measure of early spatial skills that provides strong prediction to spatial skills measured with established tests at age 5. New data using this measure finds links between early spatial skill and mathematics, language, and executive function skills. Analyses suggest that preschool spatial experiences may play a central role in children's mathematical skills around the time of school entry. Executive function skills provide an additional unique contribution to predicting mathematical performance. In addition, individual differences, specifically socioeconomic status, are related to spatial and mathematical skill. We conclude by exploring ways of providing rich early spatial experiences to children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT As the traditional toys of the past are quickly being replaced with electronically 'enhanced' toys, it is important to understand how these changes impact parent-child interactions, especially in light of the evidence that the richness and variety of these interactions have long-term effects on diverse areas of cognition (Hart & Risley, 1995). Here, we compared the quantity and quality of the language children hear during play with either a traditional (nonelectronic) or an electronic shape sorter designed to teach children about geometric shapes. Spatial toys and spatial language, in particular, were explored since recent work has established that parents' use of spatial language links to children's short- and long-term performance on spatial tasks (Pruden, Levine, & Huttenlocher, 2011), and that spatial skills are relevant to success in learning mathematics and science (Newcombe, 2010). Traditional toys prompted more parental spatial language and more varied overall language than did electronic toys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on three main goals: First, 3-year-olds' spatial assembly skills are probed using interlocking block constructions ( N = 102). A detailed scoring scheme provides insight into early spatial processing and offers information beyond a basic accuracy score. Second, the relation of spatial assembly to early mathematical skills was evaluated. Spatial skill independently predicted a significant amount of the variability in concurrent mathematical performance. Finally, the relation between spatial assembly skill and socioeconomic status ( SES), gender, and parent-reported spatial language was examined. While children's performance did not differ by gender, lower SES children were already lagging behind higher SES children in block assembly. Furthermore, lower SES parents reported using significantly fewer spatial words with their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]