scientific journal of orienteering Scientific Journal of Orienteering, volume 18, issue I+II, 2008. www.orienteering.org - 40 - Spatial Orientation Ability in Boys and Girls Toddlers Pollatou E, Gerodimos V, Zissi V, Zervanou D, and Karadimou K. From the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Thessaly, Trikala, Greece Abstract The spatial orientation ability is very important for peoples’ everyday life, as well as for their distinction to the sector of athletics, which depends on many endogenous and extraneous factors. The aim of present research was to study the effect of gender and athletic occupation in the orientation ability of children (boys and girls) of age 4 to 5 years old. On this survey participated 400 children who were evaluated with the “Witeba-Test of Spatial Orientation, (Temple, Williams and Bateman, 1979)”. Data were analyzed with 2-way ANOVA (gender x athletic occupation). The results revealed nonsignificant differences between boys and girls, between the children that did or did not participate in sports and no interaction either (p > 0.05). By inference, from the present study it appeared that the ability of orientation consists an inherent feature which at least during the early years of children’s development, is not affected by the above factors. Keywords: orientation ability, children, sports Introduction The orientation ability of each live organism in our planet determines his time duration of life, influences his survival and possesses important role in his reproduction (Thomas, 2006). The ability of planning and realization of activities in large areas is very important for the human functioning. The development of this ability can be accomplished by the very early years of age and the premature skilfulness implies that has been given particular care which helped the children to organize early in life (Hazen & Durett, 1982). Kimura (1999) determines six spatial factors that have wide acceptance because they are distinctly determined from the experimental measurement: a) spatial orientation: it is the possibility of precise calculation of changes in the orientation of object. This ability is evaluated with two-dimensional (e.g. letters, numbers and simple forms) but also three-dimensional representations of objects (e.g. cubes, totals of cubes and photographs of real objects) rotated in general space, b) spatial memory: it is the ability of serial recall of objects. The tests involve series of realistic or geometrical objects that must be memorized, c) pursuit: it is the ability of throwing objects to a target, d) spatial vision: it is the possibility of recognition of changes of orientation in space and it’s referring to the estimation of place of somebody concerning a static object, d) simplification: it is the ability of finding of object which belongs in a complex total, e) spatial perception: it is the ability of determination the horizontal and vertical directions in the space. There is extended literature about sex differences concerning spatial ability, indicating that males tend to outperform females on spatial tests that require manipulations of geometric figures and forms (Hampson & Kimura, 1992, Linn & Petersen, 1985, Voyer, Voyer & Bryden, 1995). However, the tests that were used had a restricted laboratory nature. More specifically, spatial ability in humans typically is assessed using paper and pencil tests that require subjects to perform imaginary manipulations of geometric figures or objects, or otherwise perform any of a variety of visual transformations of stimuli presented on the printed page (Moffat, Hampson & Hatzipantelis, 1998). Additionally, even if the differences of two sexes, have been proved with the evident superiority of men (Harris, 1978, Maccoby and Jacklin, 1974), the age in which these differences appear for the first time, has not been clarified yet. Certain researchers support that reliable differences are presented only afterwards the puberty (Maccoby et al., 1974), while other disagree supporting that this differences in certain versions of spatial ability,