At the preschool level, students are required to copy letters, numbers and shapes as an introduction to penmanship. According to a study published in the "Journal of Behavioral Optometry" in September 2012, accurate reproduction with paper and pencil requires precise visual-motor control and drawing skills. This is actually the integration and coordination of visual perception and motor skills. The study also stated that early childhood visual motor integration performance is linked with later academic performance.
In early elementary grades, the instructional focus is to learn to read. According to a study published in December 2011 in the "Annals of Dyslexia," reading development requires students to link a language’s spoken form and meaning to its written symbols. The study also suggested that reading skills are dependent upon visual perception. Visual perception serves as the foundation for school performance, especially in upper elementary school when students move from learning to read to reading to learn.
Once students get into seventh grade and beyond, each subject is specialized and taught by a different teacher. The math and science courses delve further into abstract concepts, and students are required to apply visual perception in new ways. At the secondary level, visual perception can be characterized as spatial visualization, or picturing something mentally, and as spatial orientation, which is the mental rotation of objects. According to the study published in August 2010 in the "International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education," students who have a low level of visual perception are disadvantaged in science.
For math and science majors, medical students and dental students, visual perception is related to performance in the initial phase of their training. Students with the ability to perceive spatial relationships may have an advantage in interpreting and mentally organizing information during simulated tasks. Visual perception can also impact how students perform on pretests, post-tests, midterm exams, final exams and laboratory activities. The good news is that visual perception increases with age because older students engage in more abstract course work and encounter visual-spatial thinking more frequently, enhancing opportunities for successful academic performance.