About
Spatial reasoning is a series of cognitive skills associated with the ability to retain, retrieve and transform visual images in the mind. These skills can be developed rapidly with effective training and practise.
Spatial skills are important for mathematics and numeracy development—especially when encountering novel or complex problem solving. Highly developed spatial skills are a strong predictor of a person working in a STEM profession.
MathsBURST is an intervention program for all students—the skill-based program develops cognitive skills that help students access curriculum content with more flexibility and fluency.
MathsBURST
Building Understanding through Reasoning and Spatial Thinking (BURST)
MathsBURST is a program for primary school children to engage in spatial reasoning activities to improve their mathematics understanding and ability.
Spatial concepts tend to be developed through engagement with our inherently spatial world. The MathsBURST program promotes spatial thinking in three ways:
1. bringing spatial thinking into the learning environment through intentional teaching embedded in the curriculum;
2. practicing spatial skills through scaffolded digital challenges; and
3. building a spatial habit-of-mind through new ways of thinking spatially about the STEM-rich world.
MathsBURST has been conceptualised over a 20-year period, during which members of our team have developed a pedagogical framework closely aligned to students’ concept development. The program has been developed through extensive classroom-based action research projects and is backed by empirical research that has demonstrated the success of the program in improving students’ spatial thinking and mathematics performance.
Our Program Includes
The MathsBURST program is designed for implementation in classrooms across Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.
The units within each grade level include:
- professional learning opportunities for classroom teachers in spatial reasoning
- detailed spatial reasoning enrichment program introduced for 1 session per week across two terms
- learning opportunities and activities designed within a bespoke learning framework that has been empirically evaluated
- integrated spatial thinking challenges that provide sufficient machine learning to monitor and assess student’s individual learning progress
- a learning module that engages students in STEM thinking through open-ended investigations that utilise problem-based resources
- a digital assessment dashboard that allows classroom teachers to monitor student learning progressions
The program is designed for Australian classrooms incorporating Australian Curriculum Mathematics and state-based syllabus content descriptors and learning achievement standards.
Why spatial reasoning?
The relation between spatial ability and mathematics is so well established that it no longer makes sense to ask whether they are related. (Mix & Cheng, 2012, p. 206)
Research over the past 30 years has demonstrated that spatial reasoning and thinking mathematically are fundamentally linked, and that spatial reasoning also promotes STEM thinking.
Research Into Spatial Reasoning
More About MathsBURST
To find out more about MathsBURST, download our Prospectus (PDF) or Information Booklet (PDF) below.
PAGES
MAILING LIST
MathsBURST acknowledges the Ngunnawal people, traditional custodians of the lands where we are situated. We wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of Canberra and the region. We acknowledge the sorrow of the Stolen Generations and the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We also recognise the resilience, strength and pride of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.