GALA 2017: Games and Learning Alliance pp 25-40 | Cite as

Training of Spatial Abilities with Digital Games: Impact on Mathematics Performance of Primary School Students

  • Laura Freina
  • Rosa Bottino
  • Lucia Ferlino
  • Mauro Tavella
Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 10653)

Abstract

The “A me gli occhi project” has been organized to support the development and consolidation of visuospatial abilities in students of the last two years of primary school, with the hypothesis that such a training would have a positive impact on their performance in mathematics. The present paper focuses on the second phase of the project, during which twenty game based training sessions have been organized along the whole school year. Students’ mathematical abilities have been measured at the beginning of the project and at the end using a standardized math test. Results show some improvements in the experimental group compared to the control one, confirming the initial hypothesis.

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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Carlo Chiorri and Ottavia Epifania for their help in the statistical analysis of the collected data. Micòl Arena and Beatrice Crippa for their valuable help working in class with the researcher and the students during the training sessions. Last but not least, all the involved class teachers and students for their heartfelt participation.

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Laura Freina
    • 1
  • Rosa Bottino
    • 1
  • Lucia Ferlino
    • 1
  • Mauro Tavella
    • 1
  1. 1.National Research Council, Institute for Educational TechnologiesGenovaItaly

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