Small-group spatial language training sessions for preschoolers using a treasure hunt cover story¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (2 for, 1 mixed, 1 against) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 4 claims rest on one study

Description¶

A concrete training recipe: six sessions of about 20 min in groups of four to eight children, mostly twice a week, training production and comprehension of the terms in front of, behind, to the left, and to the right within the egocentric frame of reference. A treasure hunt cover story motivates children, who name or place a wooden cube relative to a wooden half-sphere, receive corrective feedback, and earn stamps on a treasure map. The intervention significantly improved spatial language and numerical magnitude understanding.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Small groups of four to a maximum of eight children; feedback in each run giving the correct answer or repositioning the cube correctly

Constraints¶

• Training was restricted to egocentric reference frames and four spatial terms; no significant transfer to verbal number skills was observed

Target Learners¶

• 4-6-year-old daycare children

Target Learning Goals¶

• Production and comprehension of spatial terms
• Relative numerical magnitude understanding

Affordances¶

• Mental Number Line Spatial Language Account

Claims¶

• Spatial language training significantly improves 4-6-year-olds' spatial language comprehension compared to controls [+M]
• Spatial language training improves children's numerical magnitude understanding (number words comparison) [+M]
• Spatial language training does not significantly improve verbal number skills compared to controls [-M]
• Training effects on spatial language comprehension and verbal number skills tended to appear in younger rather than older children [~W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Nadja Lindner, Korbinian Moeller, Frauke Hildebrandt, Marcus Hasselhorn, Jan Lonnemann. (2025). Training children's spatial language skills improves their numerical magnitude understanding. Learning and Instruction 99 (2025) 102191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102191