An Investigation into Spatial Ability in Geometry among Secondary School Students

Abstract

Spatial ability is reflected to be one of the major abilities that appear especially essential in learning and doing mathematics. The present study is aimed at observing the spatial ability in geometry among secondary school students and teachers teaching mathematics. Objective of the study was to compare the spatial ability of the students of urban and rural secondary schools. To achieve the above objective, following null hypothesis was tested; there is no significant difference between urban and rural secondary schools’ students on spatial abilities. A total of 400 students studying in 9^th class from sixteen schools were randomly selected as the sample of the study. The study was conducted with the help of an empirical research design. Different Spatial Ability Tests were developed to measure spatial ability. For the purpose of data collection, observation sheets and test items were developed to investigate the performance of the students. Different statistical techniques like Mean, Standard Deviation, and t-test were applied to analyze the collected data. The study is equally significant for all secondary school students as well as for researchers and curriculum developers. Major conclusions of the study were; urban private secondary school students performed better than the others (government urban, government rural and private rural). Main recommendation was; curriculum was relevant hence it was retained.