| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of spatial ability and its relationship to different academic achievement classes and to the mathematical performance of primary school children in Singapore. A review of relevant literature indicated that although gender differences in spatial ability are widely acknowledged, considerable dispute surrounds the magnitude and nature of these differences and their relationship with other intellectual achievements such as mathematics achievement in particular. This study focuses on (a) the aspects of spatial ability where gender differences were found (b) the relationships between spatial ability and general academic achievement and (c) the relationships between spatial ability and mathematical performance in a local school assessment. Three classes of Primary 4 children from a single school were involved. The sample consisted of 120 students, of which 58 were boys and 62 were girls. Adapted adult versions of multiple-choice tests measuring three spatial ability categories were used with these 9-year-old children. These tests were used previously with 9-year-old Norwegian children in an early study by Vederhus and Krekling (1996). Analysis of results of this study therefore also includes comparison between the two studies. Results of this study show that gender differences arise on some aspects of spatial ability but not other and in particular, that they are robust only in tests with an important mental rotation component. Results also show that students from different achievement classes performed significantly different from each other. Spatial ability was also found to be significantly correlated to mathematical performance and that they play an important role mathematics.
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