The impact of spatial skills on problem‐solving parsimony and solution quality in middle childhood.

Spatial skills are essential cognitive abilities that develop during middle childhood and play a crucial role in solving STEM problems. In this relation, however, important aspects of problem‐solving performance remain underexplored. Consequently, this study investigated whether spatial skills contr...

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Publicado en:British Journal of Developmental Psychology Vol. 43; no. 4; pp. 993 - 1010
Autores principales: Schäfer, Jonas, Reuter, Timo, Leuchter, Miriam
Formato: research tables/charts Journal Article
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Nov2025
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      jtl: British Journal of Developmental Psychology
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      dt: Nov2025
      vid: 43
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      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
      place: Malden, Massachusetts
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        atl: The impact of spatial skills on problem‐solving parsimony and solution quality in middle childhood.
      aug:
        au:
          Schäfer, Jonas
          Reuter, Timo
          Leuchter, Miriam
        affil: Department of Pedagogical Psychology and Health Psychology, University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
      sug:
        subj:
          Spatial Perception In Infancy and Childhood
          Cognition In Infancy and Childhood
          Problem Solving In Infancy and Childhood
          Task Performance and Analysis In Infancy and Childhood
          Age Factors
          Human
          Funding Source
          Descriptive Statistics
          Data Analysis Software
          Male
          Female
          Child
          Child: 6-12 years
          Male
          Female
      ab: Spatial skills are essential cognitive abilities that develop during middle childhood and play a crucial role in solving STEM problems. In this relation, however, important aspects of problem‐solving performance remain underexplored. Consequently, this study investigated whether spatial skills contribute to solution quality and parsimony in problem‐solving. The sample comprised 478 six‐ to eight‐year‐olds (219 female) who completed mental rotation, visuospatial memory and gear‐based problem‐solving tasks. In both problem‐solving tasks, spatial skills were associated with solution quality (β =.27** or.39**, respectively) and partially with the number of operations (β = −.06 or −.16*), indicating higher parsimony. Age was significantly linked to spatial skills and partially to parsimony but not to solution quality. These findings highlight the importance of spatial skills for different aspects of children's STEM‐related problem‐solving.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        tables/charts
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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