When I think of visual-spatial skills, I recall a high school aptitude exam in which I had to study various forms and determine what they would look like if twisted this way or that. I didn't think about it much after that, but visual-spatial abilities are becoming increasingly crucial in today's environment.
One of Howard Gardner's many intelligences is visual-spatial intelligence. Gardner's hypothesis broadens our understanding of intelligence. Gardner's idea of multiple intelligences allows people to flourish in areas other than academic intelligence, or book smarts.
Musical, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, existential, and visual-spatial intelligences are among Gardner's many intelligences.
The capacity to visualise items' locations, forms, motions, and connections to other objects is known as visual-spatial intelligence. Two things come to me when I consider visual-spatial intelligence. First and foremost, there was the aptitude exam I took in high school. To answer the exam questions correctly, I had to mentally flip items around and shift them.
Then there's Ikea furniture. Putting together Ikea furniture makes me ponder about visual-spatial intelligence (or lack thereof). My husband had just finished constructing an armoire. When I got down to the basement, I noticed that one of the shelves had been flipped and turned to fit better into the frame.
That's visual-spatial intelligence: the ability to imagine how items will seem when they're moved and how their relationships with other objects will change. If I'm being really honest, the shelf was still turned upside down, so perhaps my visual-spatial intelligence isn't all it's cracked up to be.
When you think of visual-spatial abilities as intelligence, you might think of them as innate—you're either born with them or you're not. That, however, is not the case.
Carol Dweck's mindset theory is one of my favourites, and I think it's a terrific approach to think about visual-spatial skills as well. When you have a growth mindset, you believe that your talents and abilities are pliable, and that you can progress over time with effort and practise.
A fixed mentality, on the other hand, is when you believe that certain talents and abilities (such as visual-spatial intelligence) are fixed—that you are either born with it or not.
When it comes to visual-spatial abilities, it's critical to have a growth attitude. You may increase your capacity to see items, their relationships to other objects, and their placements in space by doing exercises and activities every day.
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