Comparing the Efficiency of Special Teaching Methods by Means of Standardized Tests

Abstract

An attempt was made to detect an aptitude-treatment interaction between instructional treatment and spatial-visualization ability. Two groups of elementary education majors were given instruction on the fundamental properties of algebraic structures. The treatments given to the groups (verbal and verbal-spatial) were designed to differ as much as possible in the amounts of spatial visualization they required. It was expected that the slope of the regression line for the verbal-spatial group would be greater than that for the verbal group. However, no significant ATI was found. A rationale is provided that explains the present results and predicts that such an ATI will exist for some topics in mathematics but not for others.