A Study On The Performance Of Visuospatial Reasoning Ability Of Sixth-grade Students

Visuospatial reasoning,as the development of spatial concepts,is an important component of core mathematical literacy and a key mathematical skill that students must master.It is of great importance in promoting the development of both students’ creative consciousness and their creative abilities.To further promote the development of elementary school students’ geometric thinking,it is necessary to develop their visuospatial reasoning and to embed reasoning,visual representations and visual thinking into the mathematical thinking process of elementary school students.Currently,domestic research from a mathematics education perspective is not rich enough,and there is more room for empirical research to assess and develop elementary school students’ visuospatial reasoning ability.Based on this,this study looks at the development of visuospatial reasoning ability of elementary school students who are about to graduate,with the aim of providing evidence for reforming the geometry domain of the mathematics curriculum.Based on the literature collection,collation and analysis,this study takes the performance of visuospatial reasoning ability as the research vehicle,adopts the test method to understand the specific performance of sixth-grade students’ visuospatial reasoning ability,analyzes the problems and causes of their visuospatial reasoning ability through questionnaires,interviews and case studies,and then combines the analysis of representative classroom teaching examples to analyze reasonable and appropriate teaching strategies.The students will analyze the problems and causes of their visuospatial reasoning ability through questionnaires,interviews and case studies.The main findings of the study are as follows.Firstly,sixth-grade students showed variability in their visuospatial reasoning ability.The scoring rates of students in the dimension of identification and construction of nets ranked from highest to lowest: rotation of shapes,2D and 3D transformation of shapes,and expansion and collapse of shapes.The scoring rates of students in the dimension of using nets to solve problems ranked from highest to lowest: spatial combinations,and spatial measurements.In addition,students’ performance in identification and construction of nets and in using nets to solve problems showed mutual influence.Except for 2D and 3D transformation of shapes and spatial measurements,rotation of shapes and spatial measurements,there was mutual influence in other dimensions.There was a degree of variation across dimensions and classes,but no significant gender differences among students.Secondly,the problems and causes of visuospatial reasoning ability of sixth-grade students show diversity.Students’ problems in identification and construction of nets include the following three aspects: First,the understanding of graphical feature relationships is limited to visual observation,because they do not abstractly understand the square expansion diagram and graphical rotation.Second,the establishment of the essential relationship between graphics is limited to superficial understanding,because of the inability to transform,restore and judge between three-dimensional graphics and flat graphics.Third,the visuospatial thinking of graphs lacks breadth,because of the inability to reason using divergent and ordered thinking.The problems students have in using nets to solve problems in the dimension include the following four aspects: First,the grasp of graphical measurement is limited to the memorization of formulas,because of the essence of the concepts of surface area and volume is not clearly understood.Second,the reasoning of graphical representations lacks the use of intuitive consciousness,because of the inability to perceive the number of volume units,the change of surface area,and to make three-dimensional and two-dimensional abstractions based on intuition.Third,there is a lack of flexibility in thinking about complex graphical problems,because of the inability to use reverse thinking in reasoning.Fourth,the lack of experience in basic geometry activities,because of the inability to represent problems appropriately and to choose the right strategies.Finally,instructional strategies to promote the development of sixth-grade students’ visuospatial reasoning ability are analyzed.The four main areas are as follows: Guiding students through the process of forming basic concepts of visuospatial reasoning.Designing key tasks for developing students’ visuospatial reasoning ability.Perceiving diverse ways to develop visuospatial reasoning to solve problems.Appropriately diagnosing the performance of students’ visuospatial reasoning ability development.