FastSaying
Our studies show these abilities are universal, and they develop in the absence of instruction. You don't need to take a class in geometry, and you don't need to learn from a teacher what a right triangle is in order to show this sensitivity.
Elizabeth Spelke
Absence
Related Quotes
I think it's really fascinating that geometry is so difficult. My guess is it's difficult because it focuses on proofs.
— Elizabeth Spelke
Difficult
Fascinating
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The experiments of the infants and the monkeys, I think, make it extremely likely that these abilities are inborn.
— Elizabeth Spelke
Abilities
Experiments
Extremely
Rhesus monkeys as well as human adults and older children living in a remote Amazon village have been given comparison and addition tasks using arrays of dots, and they show the same abilities we find in 5-year-old Boston children.
— Elizabeth Spelke
Children
Living
What our study shows is that children have a fundamental understanding of addition and of numbers and we hope to harness that ability to enhance mathematic instruction.
— Elizabeth Spelke
Children
Hope
Study
The spontaneous understanding of geometrical concepts and maps by this remote human community provides evidence that core geometrical knowledge is a universal constituent of the human mind.
— Elizabeth Spelke
Community
Knowledge
Understanding