how do you improve spatial intelligence?

[lightthecandle]

I've checked online on this, but most of the sites want you to buy their product, and are some other scams..and plus, I do NOT have any money spend on this.

I'm just wondering how'd I'd go about this on my own??how does your mind work to do this, because its not coming naturally to me, especially while I"m taking Organic Chemistry and Physics we're it is definitely needed.

thanks!

[Brutha]

Practice.
Take something like Rubik's Cube with you. Everytime you sit somewhere to wait for something play with it.

[Jugga J]

A variety of sports tend to help, one of the best me thinks is football (soccer to you). Rubiks Cubes are probs good.

The problem with intelligence development is its hard to measure any development.

[LoveFreedom]

It may sound a bit off field, but try this. Take a measuring tape and start measuring things, a sit, a box, a roll of toilet parer, your car, your desk, your arm, a tree... whatever is there. Measure all three dimensions if possible or at least two. Of course you won't remember all these measurements, but some you will; you can always measure things again and again... do a couple a day, it helped me to become quite good imagining things in space...

[palimpsest]

Video games are good for training spatial reasoning. I like neopets-- free game site, I found out playing Snow Wars II that equilateral shapes like a square has the most area (catapults) for the given perimeter (moves you need to build a decent wall). If you knew that already, one can still get creative with filling in the gaps with tetris blocks-- most efficient fit for the least amount of effort. Also, knitting-- a surprising lot of mathematics in knitting, but it takes a while. Or one of those cheap flat puzzle sets where you try to make 25 different shapes with the same seven wedges, though the cube is classic and more convenient. I hope this helped.

[lightthecandle]

thanks guys!!!

yeah, those are some really great ideas (maybe a little strange,lovefreedom , but still great!)
Keep the ideas flowing!!

[Pegasus]

Volunteer at a Montessori school.

I haven't actually tried this. Let me know if it works!


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[Livgivare]

This might seem a bit odd, but when you look at a thing (any sort of thing) look at it in a short period of time, like up to a minute. Then place it infront of you and try to scetch out the back of it (the part you don't see from the angle you placed it). Do this for a couple of months with preferbly 3 new things each day or something like that. This thing of being able to see the backside of a thing, building or any peice of furniture and being able to make fantasy images in head off how the back looks like is part of spatial intelligence. Rubriks cubes and Tetris is also equally as good as training to see patterns. Get a book with patterns that you need to fullfill and train with that. And probobly next time you pack a bag try to get as much stuff into the bag as tidy as possible in as short amount of time as possible.

Hope I've gave away some good ideas.

I did a test a few years ago and spatial intelligence was my major intelligence. So yep tetris, being able to twist and turn things arround in my head and pattern-thinking is really my field. I should probobly be better at rubriks cubes but I do not have the patience for that thing...haha...

(In a test out of 150 patterns I got only 7 wrong, and in a twist this arround test of 75 things I got only 6 wrong. I've never fellt any smarter after I found that out...haha...but that is just me! And yep, if you probobly had a lighter under my but I would probobly pack my bag fast, tidy and with as many things as possible under 1 hour or least...)

Love Leelene

[vai123]

Im a guitarist, and this is something that I am improving right now too. I want to be able to really know exactly where I am in space at all times. Where y fingers are, my elbow, the angles between everyhting. I have found that measuring angles in my head and writing them down is realy great. This may actually not be considered spacial intellegence. I measure angles and how far my elbow is from my body, how far it is towards the front and back, and all the details of everything basically. I try to get as much detail as I can. Thishas helped me play my musi much better.

[kai9]

mindmapping and radiant thinking will help. when you are studying a topic, try summarising the concepts using mindmap. you could also draw it out with diagrams, thus improving your ability to visualise.

[Christian223]

Spatial in 3d or in 2d?, try painting/drawing classes where you get to copy a subject, or you just can get a pencil a put some fruit in front of you and try to copy that, there are some nice excersizes in this site that i have tried and recommend you Drawspace.com - Drawing lessons , good luck.

[DeathStorm]

I'm not sure of this but, I think that orientation can contribute to "spatial intelligence". Travel a lot, walk through cities without any map or compass and/or try taking alternative roads and transportation (walking is the best) to places you usually go to.

[zeloc]

For Organic Chemistry, it is easy. Get an Organic Chemistry model kit and get into the habit of constructing three-dimensional models of the more complex molecules you are studying. When you see something written out, it's rather hard to "see," but after you construct a model you can rotate it in your hands and look at it from all angles. You can practice rotating it in your mind once you have the model sitting in front of you. Once you've done this a bunch of times with different molecules, you'll be able to mentally create the three-dimensional models and translate the written out forms into the actual equivalents. I came up with some neat tricks using models to help me solve organic chemistry test questions quickly, without using models.

For physics, practice it in your mind. You can also draw pictures. I once saw a Physics graduate student, who was going over our homework problems, solve a really difficult question almost just by drawing out a clear picture of what the question was stating. The solution almost followed just from the picture. I was really amazed at what making a clear diagram can do.

[zeloc]

Originally Posted by Livgivare

This might seem a bit odd, but when you look at a thing (any sort of thing) look at it in a short period of time, like up to a minute. Then place it infront of you and try to scetch out the back of it (the part you don't see from the angle you placed it). Do this for a couple of months with preferbly 3 new things each day or something like that. This thing of being able to see the backside of a thing, building or any peice of furniture and being able to make fantasy images in head off how the back looks like is part of spatial intelligence. Rubriks cubes and Tetris is also equally as good as training to see patterns. Get a book with patterns that you need to fullfill and train with that. And probobly next time you pack a bag try to get as much stuff into the bag as tidy as possible in as short amount of time as possible.


Love Leelene

Leelene, those are some very interesting ideas. Do you think that the exercise that you described, with drawing out the backs of objects, helps with rotation of three-dimensional objects in your mind? I imagine that it would, especially for more complex objects... One could also draw the backs of objects from different angles.

[Livgivare]

Originally Posted by zeloc

Leelene, those are some very interesting ideas. Do you think that the exercise that you described, with drawing out the backs of objects, helps with rotation of three-dimensional objects in your mind? I imagine that it would, especially for more complex objects... One could also draw the backs of objects from different angles.

Yep, I think it do get easier to rotate things. And what you say is also good to take the same thing and draw the back from different angles. I do rotate things in head really easy....

Love Leelene