Construction play and cognitive skills associated with the development of mathematical abilities in 7-year-old children

• Analysed relationship of Lego construction, working memory and mathematics.
• Lego construction ability is positively related to mathematics performance.
• Lego construction ability is correlated to visuospatial memory, not verbal memory.
• Visuospatial memory fully mediates relationship between Lego construction and mathematics.
• Lego construction play may serve as an educational mathematics intervention tool.

Construction play is thought to develop logico-mathematical skills, however the underlying mechanisms have not been defined. In order to fill this gap, this study looks at the relationship between Lego construction ability, cognitive abilities and mathematical performance in 7-year-old, Year 2 primary school children (N = 66). While studies have focused on the relationship between mathematics performance and verbal memory, there are limited studies focussing on visuospatial memory. We tested both visuospatial and verbal working memory and short term memory, as well as non-verbal intelligence. Mathematical performance was measured through the WIAT-II numerical operations, and the word reading subtest was used as a control variable. We used a Lego construction task paradigm based on four task variables found to systematically increase construction task difficulty. The results suggest that Lego construction ability is positively related to mathematics performance, and visuospatial memory fully mediates this relationship. Future work of an intervention study using Lego construction training to develop visuospatial memory, which in turn may improve mathematics performance, is suggested.