Relationship between the visual-spatial ability and achievement on PISA reading literacy

Abstract

The assumption that the educational needs of students with a higher visual-spatial ability can be met by including non- continuous texts in the educational practice was empirically tested on a convenience sample, comprising 191 14-year-olds from three Belgrade elementary schools. The findings, obtained after applying ANOVA and ANCOVA, attested to a linear relationship between the measure of visual-spatial ability and PISA unit achievement, both with continuous and non-continuous text formats. The differences between these findings and those of previous study, upon which this work is based, were interpreted in light of the possibility that relative strength in the visual-spatial domain, compared to verbal ability, could be associated with the way the unit is approached, rather than with achievement. The confirmation of this assumption could speak in favor of respecting students’ different cognitive styles.