ADVERTORIAL


Surrey schools to trial new materials to support spatial thinking


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ast month I was excited to be back at the University of Surrey alongside Professor Emily Farran and Angelina Orav to launch the trial of our Bee Spatial materials. There is a growing body of research into the benefits of spatial reasoning. Evidence from 45 studies shows that children with strong spatial reasoning have strong mathematics performance. (Atit et al, 2022) There is also strong research evidence that spatial reasoning can be trained. (Evidence from 29 studies, Hawes et al, 2022) This indicates that where spatial skills are taught and practised, children will improve, not just in their spatial thinking but in maths more widely, including geometry, measures, number, algebra and statistics. (Gifford et al, 2024) Furthermore,


Image below: Example teaching slide from the Bee Spatial programme Jane Brown,


Head of Primary Maths, White Rose Education


research tells us that spatial training has the most impact for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. (Bower et al, 2020, 2021, Schmitt et al, 2018) suggesting that incorporating spatial training into daily maths could help to close the gap between these children and their peers. The importance of spatial training is beginning to emerge in recent policy documents. Ofsted 2024 Best start in life part 3 recognises that, “Understanding both number and spatial reasoning is crucial to later achievement.” The Royal Society Mathematical Futures document (2024) argues that “there should be greater emphasis on conceptual understanding and a stronger focus on spatial reasoning.”


Research also tells us that the ability to think spatially is foundational to problem solving. (Gilligan-Lee et al 2023; Mix et al 2018) The recent Curriculum and Assessment Review (2025) chaired by Becky Francis, recommends a stronger emphasis on reasoning and “opportunities for more complex problem-solving” including “non-routine problems”. The Bee Spatial materials developed for the trial, incorporate daily visualisation tasks into maths lessons to enhance spatial reasoning and mathematical problem solving. Visualisation is the ability to mentally represent and manipulate objects in the mind’s eye. Every lesson has a spatial starter task where children are asked to mentally fold or rotate objects, or to picture a problem in their mind’s eye before showing and comparing their representations.


The materials are currently being trialled by schools in the Surrey region. Teachers involved have been trained on how to develop spatial thinking and will teach the Bee Spatial lessons for 5 weeks during the summer term. Children’s progress in maths, including arithmetic, geometry and problem solving, as well as spatial


reasoning skills, will be measured and compared to control classes using the ordinary White Rose lesson resources.


Now, with materials finalised and teachers trained, we await the outcomes of the trial. Will the spatial tasks be easy to embed and engaging for the children? Will there be a measurable difference in spatial ability and maths after just five weeks? We wait with interest to see.


The Bee Spatial materials were developed as the result of a collaboration between White Rose Education and Emily Farran, Professor of Cognitive Development, University of Surrey, Camilla Gilmore, Professor of Mathematical Cognition, Loughborough University and Angelina Orav, Research Assistant, University of Surrey. You can find out more here: u https://www.surrey.ac.uk/bee-spatial


u https://whiteroseeducation.com/


References:


Atit, K., Power, J. R., Pigott, T., Lee, J., Geer, E. A., Uttal, D. H., ... & Sorby, S. A. (2022). Examining the relations between spatial skills and mathematical performance: A meta- analysis.


Bower, C. A., Foster, L., Zimmermann, L., Verdine, B. N., Panzer, R., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2020) Piecing together the role of a spatial assembly intervention in preschoolers’ spatial and mathematics learning: Influences of gesture, spatial language, and socioeconomic status.


Bower, C. A., Zimmermann, L., Verdine, B., Toub, T. S., Islam, S., Foster, L., Evans, N., Odean, R., Cibischino, A., Pritulsky, C., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2021) Enhancing spatial skills of preschoolers from under-resourced backgrounds: A comparison of digital app vs. concrete materials. DFE (2025) Curriculum and Assessment Review Final Report GOV.UK Gifford, S., Borthwick, A. and Farran, E.K. (2024). RS ACME Primary and early years expert panel perspective: Spatial reasoning


Images above: Examples of starter tasks from the Bee Spatial programme.


Further opportunities to visualise are embedded throughout the Bee Spatial lessons through a ‘See it. Show it. Solve it.’ approach. Bee prompts the children to first picture a representation in their mind’s eye, before showing their thinking using drawing, manipulatives, gesture or explanation, then finally comparing and checking their solutions. Spatial representations including number lines or partially completed bar models support the children to visualise problems, helping them to decide where to start and which calculations they need to use.


April 2026


Gilligan-Lee, K. A., Hawes, Z. C., Williams, A. Y., Farran, E. K., & Mix, K. S. (2023) Hands- On: Investigating the role of physical manipulatives in spatial training. Hawes et al (2022) Effects of spatial training on mathematics performance: A meta- analysis.


Kelly S. Mix, Susan C. Levine, Yi-Ling Cheng, Christopher J. Young, David Z. Hambrick & Spyros Konstantopoulos (2017) The Latent Structure of Spatial Skills and Mathematics: A Replication of the Two-Factor Model Ofsted (2024) Best start in life part 3: The 4 specific areas of learning. Royal Society Mathematical Futures (2024) A new approach to mathematical and data education.


Schmitt, S. A., Korucu, I., Napoli, A. R., Bryant, L. M., & Purpura, D. J.(2018) Using block play to enhance preschool children’s mathematics and executive functioning: A randomized controlled trial.


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