Spatial intelligence - Picture Smart

Children with strong spatial intelligence, also known as 'picture smart,' are visual learners; they need to be able to see things in order to understand them. Since they have a strong visual memory, a sharp eye for detail and colors, and a good hand-eye coordination, they tend to be artistically inclined. They enjoy creating art, building puzzles, and learning through watching movies.

Learning Style: They need visual support, such as charts, pictures and other images.

Spatial Intelligence ("picture smart") learners think in pictures more than words and need to create vivid mental images to remember and understand information. They like maps, charts, pictures, videos, and movies, so teaching with film may be helpful in their case.. They’re usually good at puzzles, have a strong sense of direction and like making and repairing things. Visual/Spatial learners can become navigators, sculptors, inventors, architects and interior designers, mechanics or engineers.

Spatial intelligence might be one of less familiar kind of intelligence, however it has wide implications in many academic and professional disciplines. It is extremely important in disciplines such as mathematics and computer science. There are many theories and models attempting to define spatial reasoning. The first model is called the MV/PD model. According to this model, spatial representation consist of two parts. The first is a metric diagram, which includes quantitative information and provides a substrate, which can support perceptual-like processing. The second part of the model is termed place vocabulary, which makes explicit qualitative distinction in shape and space relevant to the current task Therefore, spatial reasoning is not just visualization of objects and space but also the ability to take qualitative information and then transformation them to spatial representations so that it can be better understood.

Another theory addressing spatial intelligence is called the mental model theory,
developed by Johnson-Laird and Byrne. According to the mental model theory, first, the person constructs a mental model of the premises of the problem. Second, the person draws a conclusion from the model that is informative. The model helps to extract information that is not directly asserted by the premises. Third, the participant tries to construct another alternative model to try and contradict the initial one, if they cannot construct an alternative model, then they take the first one to be correct.

According to the mental model theory, reasoning is guided by a 'search for counter –examples procedure." However, if the search of counter examples takes too much working memory capacity, then the process of searching for counter examples to get the right answers will come to a halt. Also, the mental model theory predicts that problem difficulty increases as the number of different possible mental models increases.

References

1)Resources in Teaching, Multiple Intelligence, A listing and description of the eight kinds of intelligence.
2)Looking At Changes in Spatial Reasoning, Description of the Role of Spatial Reasoning in different fields of studies.
3) 3. Van der Henst, Jean Baptiste. "The Mental Model of theory of spatial reasoning reexamined : The role of relevance in premise order." British Journal of Psychology, 90 (1999) , 73(1).

Edited by: Carol Roger (KPLI Jan 2010)