Investigating the Connection Between Spatial Reasoning Skills and Reggio Emilia-Inspired Kindergarten Mathematics Activities

Spatial reasoning (SR) skills are inherent to our daily interactions with the world and essential to young children’s learning in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) domains. Most simply, SR skills allow humans to mentally represent and transform objects and their relations. While the connection between SR skills and mathematics achievement is strong, the skills are infrequently emphasized in curriculum or instruction in the early grades of traditional elementary schools. The Regio-Emilia Inspired Approach (RE-IA) offers a schooling model that promotes teachers, or guides, to engage children in authentic learning opportunities and co-construct an emergent curriculum suited to their learning goals, which offers opportunities to learn and practice SR skills through interactive engagements. In this study, we sought to understand and identify specific ways of designing and implementing mathematics activities that support children in receiving opportunities to learn SR skills, whether they are explicit within learning objectives or implicit in learning actions students take. We examined lessons that offer opportunities to integrate SR within a kindergarten mathematics project targeting data analysis concepts. Findings revealed RE-IA as one pedagogical approach to including SR in early childhood education, which could help educators provide engaging environments and joyful mathematics learning experiences for young children. Implications for practice and directions for future research aimed more broadly at transdisciplinary STEAM and in other school models are discussed.