Collaboration in Spatial Reasoning Tasks with Grade 1 and 2 Students

When young students engage with activities aimed at improving spatial reasoning, there is potential to also improve learning and performance in practical mathematics problem-solving tasks, scientific inquiries, and other STEM-based tasks. In this study, students worked in pairs to problem solve through 3D construction. The aim was to assess whether collaboration might benefit students when solving spatial reasoning tasks. They found the benefits were more pronounced with students in Grade 2 than in Grade 1. The findings of this study were expected to inform teacher practice across a range of learning areas related to spatial reasoning.