Tag Archives: spatial skills

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Valerie Reyna leads discussions about communicating the risks of COVID-19 to the public.

COVID-19 pandemic spurs family reconciliation

Karl Pillemer of the Cornell Reconciliation Project writes about how the COVID-19 crisis has led some people to reconcile with their families.

From cultural differences to human universals

Qi Wang articulates the role of cultural psychology in bridging cultural gaps in psychological research and in society.

Spatial language and play are key to developing spatial skills

Marianella Casasola shows how multisensory play in naturalistic settings is fundamental to the early development of visual-spatial abilities.

Smoothing career paths for women in science

Wendy Williams and Jane Mendle contribute to our understanding of the career challenges women in academic sciences face and the way forward.

Marianella Casasola, professor in the Department of Human Development (HD), has provided research and outreach opportunities for many students and has observed how these interpersonal interactions have developed their professional skills. She will draw from her experiences in her new role as Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs. Through collaboration with professors and students, she seeks to enhance the undergraduate experience in the College of Human Ecology.

The effect of spatial language on preschool children's spatial skills

In a recent paper, Casasola presents groundbreaking research on the effect of spatial language, (i.e., using words to describe the spatial properties of an object in the environment), on spatial skills. Spatial skills are important to our everyday lives; for example, it makes it possible for us to locate our car keys and travel the route to work. Spatial skills are also linked to academic success in math and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Casasola designed experiments to test for a causal link between preschool children’s exposure to spatial language and advances in their spatial skills. She investigated whether preschool children repeatedly exposed to a wide array of spatial language in a natural setting, such as when playing over several weeks would transfer what they learned to spatial skills that were not part of the training. The results provided the first experimental evidence that children’s experience with spatial language during spatial play did benefit nontrained spatial skills. Casasola views this outcome as analogous to how parents and children use language in naturalistic settings and this learning transfers to preschool children’s spatial skills.

CCE Summer Internship Program

Casasola's research has shown that play is essential for early childhood learning and she has designed evidence-based outreach programs with interns from the CCE Summer Internship Program to disseminate recommendations. This past summer, her research team, investigated parents' beliefs about learning through play and how it might impact cognitive development and future academic performance. Will parental beliefs affect the types of play materials they provide their children and do they think about the educational value of the materials? Dr. Casasola's CCE summer intern, Radiah Khandokar, wrote a weekly blog about her experience working with CUCE-NYC on the development of an 8-week parent education curriculum about the role of play in early childhood learning.

Reference cited in this article:

Casasola, M., Wei, W. S., Suh, D. D., Donskoy, P., & Ransom, A. (2020). Children’s exposure to spatial language promotes their spatial thinking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 149(6), 1116–1136. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0000699

 

The Cornell Chronicle, August 1, 2017.

By Stephen D'Angelo

Cornell researchers are working with Head Start Centers and day schools in New York City on early-intervention work to promote development of spatial skills and language acquisition in preschoolers.

Marianella Casasola

Marianella Casasola, associate professor of human development and a faculty fellow of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, said studies show those with better spatial skills are more likely to flourish in STEM fields.

“Working with children at Head Start in Harlem and through a partnership with the Audrey Johnson Day Care Learning Center in Brooklyn allows us to focus on families from a variety of demographics and backgrounds, and to target research on environmental factors within populations of various socioeconomic status,” Casasola said.

Casasola is examining the benefits of constructive play – using blocks, puzzles and shapes – and how language through narration of activities affects cognitive development and spatial skills. She hopes her research findings will inform early-education programs and lead to creation of ideal environments to develop children’s cognitive skills, no matter their demographic background.

“Our goal is to not only understand how early spatial and language skills develop, but also how best to promote their development both at home and in the classroom,” she said. “Designed for preschoolers from low-income families, these programs would be constructed to establish environments for the early development of these skills and promote parent interaction within day-to-day activities, such as counting, simple math and reading.”

Casasola and her team of students are collaborating with the Clinical and Translational Science Center at Weill Cornell Medicine to discover effective approaches to translate such findings for families. She and her students design and host monthly parent training workshops at Brooklyn’s Audrey Johnson day school.

“Children who both interacted and were narrated to saw at least a 30 percent increase in spatial gains over the group that still interacted with the same sorts of activities and games, but did not have language incorporated into their play by an adult,” she said. “Both groups improved, but those who heard items being labeled and actions described showed significantly greater gains.”

The hope is to integrate such development practices into the busyness of day-to-day life and positively impact a child’s language and learning development.

“Many people are surprised to hear that talking to infants really matters,” Casasola said. “The simple message is, remember to talk to your child. And have fun even for only a few minutes of play.”