A strength-based approach to exploring pre-school children's spatial language and patterning skills

Background: Deficits in spatial language and patterning skills are disproportionately represented amongst marginalized groups. However, ‘deficit models’ do not consider children's enactment of skills within contexts other than traditional test-based assessment. It is possible that assessment context (e.g., test-based versus game-based) influences the manifestation of these skills. Aims: To compare the spatial language and patterning skills of children in game-based and test-based assessment contexts drawn from different geographic locations and levels of socio-economic advantage (SEA). Sample: Preschool children (Mean age = 4 years, 11 months, S.D. = 6 months) from Metropolitan Cities, Regional Cities, and Rural Areas (N = 402 for spatial language, N = 439 for patterning). Methods: Performance was compared on digital measures of spatial language and spatial patterning through game-based and test-based assessment. Results: Significant main effects were found for performance on language and patterning test-based assessments for Geography and SEA, as well as significant interactions. Children from rural areas outperformed children from metropolitan and regional cities, and children from High SEA communities outperformed children from Low SEA communities on these measures. The effects of SEA on test-based assessment were most pronounced in city samples. There were no significant effects for SEA or Geography on game-based assessment. Conclusions: The results highlight the impact of assessment context on measurement of spatial language and patterning skills for marginalized students. Current measures may not entirely capture children's capabilities. Furthermore, the superior spatial skills found amongst children from rural communities could be capitalized upon to support performance in traditional education settings.