Reply To: Lesson 1 – Which Is Bigger? – Discussion

[Christine McLaughlin]

Spatial reasoning is an interesting topic. I earned a master’s certificate in spatial literacy several years ago and it is still something that is difficult for me to explain. A few examples are:

Tetris: thinking ahead to plan where you will put the shapes so everything fits together

Candy Crush: again, thinking ahead to your next move to get the candies where you need them to be

Filling a pitcher of water: the opening on my fridge for the water dispenser is not large enough for the pitcher, so it has to be at an angle. When I fill the pitcher with water I can’t stop when the water hits the 2-quart mark since that’s actually less than 2 quarts when it is upright. It takes practice and spatial reasoning to realize where the slanted line of water needs to be in order to hit the 2-quart mark when the pitcher is upright.