How Does Spatial Awareness Build Mathematical Minds

Young children naturally love to explore geometric and spatial aspects of the world around them. There are so many ways to encourage such exploration…

There are many levels of geometric thinking. Research suggests that to move through these levels, children must be exposed to many experiences and participate in numerous activities. Progress is often very slow. And activities like Unit Blocks, Pattern Blocks, etc contribute to this variety of experiences.

In a 1986 study by Pierre Van Hiele and Dina van Hiele-Geldof’s, in which they present levels of geometric thinking, it states that many preschool children stay within level zero, but in the Nest we see that three, four, and five year olds are quite capable of in depth work in level two!

Level 0: Children learn to recognize geometric figures such as squares and circles by their holistic physical appearance. For example, at the beginning of the year, we liken the shapes of blocks to objects around the room — a rectangle block looks like a table, a circular block looks like a clock. Children at this level do not think about the attributes or properties of shapes.

Level 1: Children begin to learn isolated characteristics or attributes of the forms. In Pattern Blocks, they see that though both a square and a rhombus have four sides, but the angle of the corners changes the shape.

Level 2: Children establish relationships between the attributes of a form. In unit blocks, children learn that two Unit Blocks make a double, four Unit Blocks make a quad, and that half of a unit block can make a short rod, a triangle, or a square.

As we walk and drive around shapes are everywhere we go, especially in the city! It is always a good time to ask your child what shapes they see and how they are fitting together. When you are out, make sure take along pen and paper and draw what you see. When you get home, find time to build what you saw. In this way you can help teach your child that we are all mathematicians!