Effects of mental rotation training on children’s spatial and mathematics performance: A randomized controlled study

The purpose of the current study was to (i) investigate the malleability of children’s spatial thinking, and (ii) the extent to which training-related gains in spatial thinking generalize to mathematics performance. Sixty-one 6- to 8-year-olds were randomly assigned to either computerized mental rotation training or literacy training. Training took place on iPad devices over a 6-week period as part of regular classroom activity. Results revealed that in comparison to the control group, children who received spatial training demonstrated significant gains on two measures of mental rotation and marginally significant improvements on an untrained mental transformation task; a finding that suggests that training may have had a general effect on children’s spatial ability. However, contrary to theoretical claims and prior empirical findings, there was no evidence that spatial training transferred to mathematics performance.