Sports and mathematical abilities in primary school-aged children: How important are spatial abilities? An explorative study

It is well known that sports and mathematical abilities are related to spatial abilities, also a relation between sport and mathematical abilities is assumed. However, the relation between all three aspects has not been investigated until now. Therefore, the main goal of the study is to examine the relationship between sport, spatial and mathematical ability in elementary school aged children. 50 boys and 42 girls from third grade solved spatial and sport tasks, which can be differentiated into the following: intrinsic-dynamic, intrinsic-static and extrinsic-static. Furthermore, their performances in mathematical (separated into numerical/arithmetical and geometrical) abilities were analyzed. The results showed significant correlations between the static spatial and sporting activities. This correlation is due to the strong correlation within the group of girls. Furthermore, a good performance in the intrinsic-spatial ability was related to a high geometrical ability of the children, especially in boys. However, the geometrical ability could not be predicted by sport abilities.