[Blindmath] Spatial Abilities

[sabra1023 via Blindmath]

Just because someone uses three-dimensional objects doesn't mean that they have a low spatial intelligence necessarily. I believe that for spatial IQ tests for the blind, it is best practice to use three-dimensional objects.

> On May 28, 2014, at 1:13 PM, Amanda Lacy <lacy925 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I think it has to do with the fact that those of us who are blind from birth don't experience the world as being flat. Sight involves the projection of light onto a flat retina, so for sighted people it seems natural to go from there to representing real things on flat surfaces. Flat pictures are everywhere for them since birth, but I can't think of one single example of anything in the real world that's flat. Our hands are designed to grasp and rotate and examine real objects, and then we come to school and have to learn what seems like a new language. So when people say that my hands are like their eyes, I have to disagree. I'm speculating as someone who has never been sighted, so any of you can feel free to correct me with more accurate information.
> 
> Amanda
>> On 5/28/2014 12:46 PM, sabra1023 via Blindmath wrote:
>> I wonder if being blind from birth has to do with it. If I'm remembering how to get somewhere, I just imagine myself walking there. A map doesn't help. I can imagine three-dimensional things very well and make them out of clay. Also, I can remember a two dimensional shape like a circle or square. However, it's difficult for me to imagine and manipulate graphs in my head.
>> 
>>> On May 28, 2014, at 12:07 PM, Susan Jolly via Blindmath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> There have been a large number of conferences about and studies of the use of tactile maps and diagrams by blind persons.  This has been going on for more than 40 years.  What I got out of reading many of the studies is that different people are different.
>>> 
>>> There is, however, a lot of evidence that men have better spatial abilities than women.  I know this is controversial but I think there is some truth to it.  I can see the sun come up east of my house and go down west of my house.  Nonetheless, no matter how hard I try, I cannot imagine that my son who lives 1000 miles west of me lives in the direction where the sun goes down.  I know that it is true logically but when I think about him, he's always somewhere off to the east in my mind.
>>> 
>>> As for graphs, it took me years to understand why it is not necessary when laying out a two-dimensional graph to use the same spacing for both axes.  I mention this here for two reasons.  First, it is an example of different people being different.  Second, it points out that the shape of a graph is to some extent arbitrary.  Of course, the general shape is independent of the exact choice of layout. (I'm talking about linear axes; you can dramatically change the shape if you use non-linear axes such as logarithmic ones.)
>>> 
>>> SusanJ
>>> 
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