the age-related changes in figural perceptual abilities of pupils

This paper is a part of a broader research in the field of development of different intellectual abilities in primary schools. Using a transverse - longitudinal research strategy, the pupils from nine to fifteen years of age are observed in order to find answers to the following questions: 1 Do the important developmental changes in the figural-perceptual abilities occur in this developmental period? 2 Is the pace of changes in these abilities the same at all ages, grades? 3 Do the developmental changes in these abilities depend on the type of tests, that is, mental operations which register the applied tests? Figural-perceptual abilities are defined as the ability to identify the elements in space, to imagine and transform the elements in space, the ability for spatial reasoning, perceptual shaping flexibility, the ability of eduction of relations and correlates, the ability to identify the elements that are injected into the right material, the ability to notice the difference in the forms and dimensions of the characters, speed observations of similarities and differences between elements in the field of perception. The measurement (assessment) of these abilities was performed with the help of 11 tests of intellectual abilities of the figural content. The individual progresses as baseline data were used for the data analysis. The progresses of the subjects were compared with the analysis and the results are the following: 1) The pupils from third to eighth grade showed positive changes in the figurative perceptive abilities. This is shown in all the tests that were used and progresses are statistically significant in all tests 2) There is a tendency that the pupils in the sixth grade made the best progress, and the seventh-grade pupils made the least progress. 3) However, when the progresses are compared in certain tests, then significant differences in the pace of development of these abilities are determined. Namely, the pupils in the higher grades were better at tests of spatial thinking and transformation than the younger pupils. In contrast, younger pupils were significantly better at the tests dealing with mechanisms, perceptual identification, classification, identification of similarities and differences than pupils in higher grades. Therefore, the research shows that in this period there is significant progress in figural perceptive abilities and that the pace of change depends on the age and, above all, types of tests, that is, the type of psychological operations as latent structures which register the test.