Spatial thinking in early childhood: findings from astronomy museum programs

Previous studies indicate that childhood aptitude in spatial thinking predicts future academic success and participation in science. This study investigates how children engaged in spatial thinking during seven museum astronomy programs (N = 52). We analysed how children’s use of spatial sensemaking practices–the observable behaviors used during spatial thinking–allowed us to interpret their use of spatial skills. Using previously established frameworks, we identified the spatial sensemaking practices used by the children: gestures, sketching, use of body, spatial talk, and object manipulation. We categorized children’s use of spatial skills into four broad groups: Intrinsic-Static, Intrinsic-Dynamic, Extrinsic-Static, and Extrinsic-Dynamic. We found that children engage in a wide range of spatial skills across all four broad spatial skill categories during museum astronomy programs. Children most often engaged with Extrinsic-Static spatial skills, which involve comparing the properties of multiple static objects. Further, we find that each individual program only engaged children in one or two of the four spatial skill quadrants. Our second finding describes how all of the observed spatial sensemaking practices facilitated multiple spatial skills, suggesting that children use the same behaviors to facilitate various cognitive processes. Overall, this study shows that museum astronomy programs engage preschool-age children in spatial thinking.