Learning reasoning from our 10 year-old

A family decision to train our 10 year-old in how to pass 11+ style papers rather than employ a tutor has turned out to be one of the greatest challenges of my post-teaching career.

The last time I passed an exam was probably around 20 years ago, for my Open University degree.  Now I've stepped into the land of discovery, specifically in the area of non-verbal reasoning skills.  And it’s not a great time to have one’s poor spatial awareness exposed.

I know that women are reputed to have poor spatial awareness; men outclass us in map reading, but, interestingly, although their spatial awareness in driving is superior, they have more accidents than women. Is it something to do with the way they’re trained?  Or is it just the fact that they’re testosterone-ridden animals?

I’m encouraged to find research which tells me that “human females tend to be higher than males in empathy, verbal skills, social skills and security-seeking, among other things, while men tend to be higher in independence, dominance, spatial and mathematical skills, rank-related aggression, and other characteristics. “  Much has been written about the differences in the female and male brains and how they learn and there is, of course, debate about the effects of environment and evolution.  There may be gender-specific ways of thinking and behaving, but there are plenty of examples of women who have succeeded in careers which demand high levels of spatial awareness.

The struggle for women to be recognised as competent in careers such as engineering is long and well-chronicled.   To move from this (perceived) incompetence to competence takes commitment, training and opportunity.  It also takes motivational trainers.  But that’s another story, another blog.

We still have to get through those wretched non-verbal reasoning tests.  I’m looking at two- dimensional objects and trying to visualise them as three-dimensional. Why has the net of a cube become a complete nightmare?  More importantly, how am I going to disguise the fact from my ten year old?   I find that I can’t manipulate the information, there aren’t enough useful reference points in the image for me (I was never trained to think in this way and therefore never learned how to do it.)  Worst of all, I’m somewhat less than motivated to find the answer.

And with my 10 year-old, motivation is the key.  When faced with the net of the cube and the struggle to find which cube could not be made from it, his head goes down, closely followed by mine.  I’m forced to recover my equanimity by having had a sneaky look at the answers in the training book.  This done, we discuss the possibilities.  As a male child, his spatial skills come to the fore and he is able to explain to me why this particular cube could not be made.   I’m now using my well-honed communication skills borne out of years of teaching.  Listen to the child, learn from him.  Show him he can lead me to understanding.  The boot’s on the other foot now. Nothing wrong with that, is there?

Published 18th November, 2010

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