This research aimed to analyze both performance and problem-solving strategies concerning the use of spatial coordinates by six to eight years-old children. 36 pupils equally distributed by three age-levels (6, 7 and 8 years of age) were presented to two sets of problems: a) reproduction of the placement of a dot in a Cartesian, bi-axial space, trying to reproduce a previous placement in another bi-axial space; b) finding out the crossing-point of two moving dots in straight and perpendicular trajectories in a bi-axial Cartesian space. Each age-level was divided into groups differing in terms of available tools: standard and completely blank sheets of A4 paper, square-lined A4 sheets of paper, square-lined sheets of paper with a written numeric-scale aid. Older pupils showed significantly better performance than younger ones, especially in the first set of problems. The use of square-lined sheets of paper (especially when a numeric-scale was provided) showed also to be an important variable in order to explain better performances of certain groups of pupils. These data suggest the importance of taking into account representational aspects in didactic efforts of conceptual development in early mathematics education.
Spatial coordinates; Child development; Mathematical concepts
