( Piaget & Inhelder 1956; Uttal et al. 2013). These mental images are so important in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics that it is hard to imagine people who aspire to those fields succeeding without them.
As outlined in NAECY’ s position statement on developmentally appropriate practice, children’ s development and learning are“ dynamic processes that reflect the complex interplay between a child’ s biological characteristics and the environment”( 8). From birth, children constantly take in and organize information. They construct knowledge and make meaning through active explorations, observations, and interactions with adults and peers( NAEYC 2020). This includes in the realm of spatial reasoning.
Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget( 1952) theorized that spatial reasoning begins in infancy as a baby observes objects and constructs mental relationships about those objects and space. A mental relationship is a mental linking of two variables, two aspects of an experience, or a new experience with a prior experience that results in spatial knowledge( Piaget & Inhelder 1956; Piaget 1985; Platas 2017). More recently, Francis and Whitely( 2015) emphasized the importance of three-dimensional materials and experiences: To understand spatial relationships, children need to play with blocks and books and not just two-dimensional materials like screens and paper. Additional research has shown that fostering spatial recognition skills may have a more positive influence on young children’ s later mathematics success than focusing on their number knowledge( Newcombe 2010; Newcombe & Verdine 2017; Young et al. 2018).
Geometry is a powerful medium for developing mathematical proficiency( Hurrell 2020, 2022). NAEYC and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics( NCTM) identify it as one of the most important areas of mathematics for young children([ 2002 ] 2010). However, while geometry includes learning about the properties of shapes, spatial reasoning is what occurs in the mind as this learning takes place. Like two sides of the same coin, one cannot exist without the other.
› comparing › sorting
› putting together and taking apart( composing and decomposing)
› becoming aware of symmetry › recognizing shapes from multiple perspectives › creating mental images of geometric shapes
When children investigate what happens when they rotate and flip shapes, put together various shapes to create new ones, and take apart shapes to look at the smaller shapes used in creating the larger ones, they are engaged in spatial reasoning.( See“ Spatial Reasoning and NCTM Standards” on page 78.)
Pattern Blocks and Pattern Block Puzzles
To develop the cognitive process of constructing spatial relationships, children need engaging activities that cause them to reflect, think deeply, and build knowledge by experimenting with objects( DeVries & Kohlberg [ 1987 ] 1990; DeVries & Sales 2011). Because geometric materials, such as pattern blocks, are visual and tactile, they provide an opportunity for children to hypothesize, conjecture, justify, and generalize. Working with these blocks, children have opportunities to recognize and identify blocks by color, shape, and size:
Hexagon
Trapezoid
Triangle
Wide Rhombus
Narrow Rhombus
Square
NCTM stresses that children should participate in activities with shapes that challenge them to engage in spatial reasoning( 2000). Rather than just memorizing shapes, they should learn to analyze those shapes’ properties by
Summer 2025 Young Children 77