UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

The use of discrimination scaling tasks: A novel perspective on the development of spatial scaling in children

Gilligan, KA; Hodgkiss, A; Thomas, MSC; Farran, EK; (2018) The use of discrimination scaling tasks: A novel perspective on the development of spatial scaling in children. Cognitive Development , 47 pp. 133-145. 10.1016/j.cogdev.2018.04.001. Green open access

[thumbnail of 1-s2.0-S088520141730165X-main.pdf]
Preview
Text
1-s2.0-S088520141730165X-main.pdf - Published Version

Download (823kB) | Preview

Abstract

Spatial scaling is the ability to transform distance information between shapes of differing sizes. Research on the developmental trajectories of spatial scaling beyond the pre-school years has been limited by a lack of suitable scaling measures for older children. Here we developed an age-appropriate discrimination scaling task, and demonstrated that children (N = 386) achieve performance gains in spatial scaling skills between 5 and 8-years-of-age, after which no significant improvements were found. Furthermore, the results support the use of relative distance strategies for task completion. These findings contrast to localisation paradigms, where performance reaches a plateau by age 6 and mental transformation strategies are used for scaling. The finding that scaling skills continue to develop until 8 years highlight the potential of scaling interventions in the early primary school years. Such interventions may infer direct benefits on spatial thinking and indirect advantages for science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) achievement.

Type: Article
Title: The use of discrimination scaling tasks: A novel perspective on the development of spatial scaling in children
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2018.04.001
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2018.04.001
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/).
Keywords: Spatial Scaling, Development, Discrimination scaling task, Relative scaling strategies
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10050940
Downloads since deposit
95Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item