Research

New! Key Learning and Skills Development Documentation: Click here to see it.

Background and History

Dimensions studies how children from age 2 to 8 develop visual-spatial skills and how families and educators can best support this important learning.

An interdisciplinary team of consultants including educators, scientists, architects, neuropsychologists, mathematicians, kinesthetic specialists, parent educators and qualitative and quantitative researchers from all over the United States works with the Dimensions Foundation on an on-going basis.

Documentation of the work of hundreds of young children is collected and analyzed through the multiple perspectives of this broad range of experts. Our data are based on direct observation of children's work.

The Need

In traditional classrooms with limited visual-spatial learning, children are being left behind:

• Many young girls are not getting the visual-spatial experiences they will need to help them be successful in later math and science learning.
• Children with verbal language delays and other special needs often learn best through visual-spatial activities and struggle if this type of learning is limited in their home or school settings.
• For many children, especially those from homes where parents do not read or write well, visual-spatial activities can be the link children need to help them learn speaking, reading and writing skills. Without visual-spatial activities, children often struggle to develop literacy skills.

The Benefits

Why is visual-spatial learning important?...People with highly developed visual-spatial skills pay more attention to the world around them. They notice and appreciate the details of life: the architecture of the buildings in their towns, or the kinds of trees in their neighborhoods.

Visual-spatial skills give people the ability to negotiate well in space: to follow maps, move easily along a forest trail, or maneuver a car into a tight parking space.

People need highly developed visual-spatial skills to work in fields such as mathematics, architecture, engineering, geology, sculpture, computer science, aviation, forestry or cartography, but all people, regardless of profession, benefit from strengthening their visual-spatial abilities.

Children Learn Important Skills: An Introductory Article

Click on the link below to read the article.

• More Than Play: Children Learn Important Skills Through Visual-Spatial Work! by Dr. Dana L. Miller, Researcher
• Consultants
  Dimensions Educational Research Foundation has assembled an interdisciplinary research team of educators, architects, neuropsychologists, mathematicians, kinesthetic specialists, parent educators and qualitative and quantitative researchers from all over the United States. Documentation of the work of hundreds of young children is being collected and analyzed through the multiple perspectives of this broad range of experts.