Visual Imagery in the Mathematical Thinking of Seventh Grade Students

After reviews of the relevant literature are presented an investigation into the involvement of visual imagery in the mathematical thinking of seventh grade is described. The subject for investigation were 112 seventh grade students from two secondary schools in the metropolitan area of Melbourne.

Multiple regression analyses revealed that neither the degree of a student's preference for using visual imagery when solving mathematical problems (referred to as 'mathematical visuality' in this study) nor Gestalt completion ability was significantly related to his or her ability to solve problems on the other hand, both spatial ability and verbal reasoning ability significantly affected mathematical problem solving performance, with verbal reasoning ability having a greater effect that spatial ability. It was also found that a student 's spatial ability verbal reasoning ability, and Gestalt completion ability did not significantly affect his or her mathematical visuality, either individually or in combination.[,,,]