The examination of cognitive imagination according to visual -spatial intelligence within the primary education visual arts course

Visual-Spatial Intelligence (VSI) is the ability for a person to express his/her spatial and visual ideas regarding the visually observed surronding objects by means of drawing shapes and images. In this regard, this study aims to question what is visual and what is spatial. In addition, VSI's definition in Gardner's theory, whether it is improvable or not, and the relation of spatial with creative thinking, with drawing from imagination, and with the ability of 2D and 3D designs are investigated. The study was conducted with 6th-year middle school 20 students from Fevzi Çakmak Middle School located in Izmir, Karabaglar province of Turkey. 20 students were divided into two groups; 10 students in the control group and 10 studens in the experimental group. The data in the study has been acquired via literature review, Spatial Visualization Test (SVT), Mental Rotation Test (MRT) and Observation Form designed by the researched. In a six-weeks period, the topic 'Perspective' in the Visual Arts Course curriculum was studied both in the experimental and in the control group; in the experimental group, the topic was conveyed using a contemporary method based on the Multiple Intelligence Theory (MIT), and in the control group, it was conveyed using traditional methods. A t-test using the pre-test scores from the two different groups was conducted to determine whether these two groups were comparable to each other. The difference between pre-test and post-test scores of SVT and MRT were used to conclude whether the education based on MIT is more effective than the traditional methods. To this end, a t-test with 0.05 significany level was designed using the software program MATLAB 2020a. During these six weeks period, students' development was followed via the observation form. In the last week of the study, the students in both groups were tasked with a set of drawing instructions designed by the researcher. The results show that the students in the experiment group were not only more succesfull at following the given set of instructions for the one-point perspective rule, but also education based on MIT had a greater impact on the students' ability in spatial visualization and mental rotation. While the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of SVT was 3.3 in the experimental group, it was only 0.2 in the control group, which (accompanied with the results of the t-test) suggests that education based on MIT leads to a more succcessful learning experience. Similary, while the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of MRT was 5.4 in the experimental group, it was only 3.7 in the control group. However, the results of the t-test for MRT fails to lead to a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Overall, it is observed that education based on MIT has a greater impact on students' 2D/3D design abilities and their spatially thinking skills compared to the traditional methods. Hence, based on the results of this study, it is suggested that the educators should take into account that the VSI is improvable when designing the related curriculum. Keywords: Visual-spatial intelligence, mental imagery, Howard Gardner multiple intelligence theory, visual art education.