Investigating spatial skills and math anxiety as mediators in a sequential mediation model: A pilot study

Lu Wang

doi:10.23917/jramathedu.v6i4.15157

Abstract

Prior research showed a gender effect on spatial ability, math anxiety, and math achievement. Lacking, however, is a comprehensive study that testedthe mediation effects of spatial ability and math anxiety between gender and math achievement in a sequential mediation model. To fill this gap, this pilot study tested two mediation relationships, one with spatial ability as a mediator, gender as a predictor, and math anxiety as an outcome variable; the other with math anxiety as a mediator, spatial ability as a predictor, and math achievement as an outcome variable. In addition, the study tested the relative strengths of the relationship between specific spatial skills that included perspective-taking, spatial imagery, and mental rotation and collegiate math achievement that included trigonometry, calculus, and linear algebra) via canonical correlations. Lastly, gender differences in spatial skills, math anxiety, and math achievement were investigated. The results of the independent t-tests showed that none of the well-documented gender differences in spatial ability was found. Canonical correlation analysis showed that a single canonical variable is sufficient in accounting for math-spatial relationship. The sequential mediation model, with spatial ability and math achievement serving as themediators in the model, fitted reasonably well. However, none of the mediation effects was statistically significant. Implications of these findings and future directions of this research are discussed

Highlights

While gender differences in spatial ability (Lauer, Yhang, & Lourenco, 2019; Reilly,Neumann, & Andrews, 2017; Voyer, Voyer, & Saint-Aubin, 2017) and math anxiety (Van Mier, Schleepen, & Van den Berg, 2019; Wigfield & Meece, 1988) are well-documented, the mediating mechanisms between gender and math anxiety, and between spatial ability and math achievement has not been formally tested in a sequential mediation model
Because the task can potentially be solved by applying either a mental rotation strategy or a perspective-taking strategy, a two-step instruction was delivered: participants were first asked to imagine taking on the perspective of the cartoon figure on the screen; participants were instructed to indicate the relative position of the final destination from the departing point using a categorical coordinate system that was symbolized by eight arrow direction icons
Within the spatial ability http://journals.ums.ac.id/index.php/jramathedu measures themselves, the intercorrelations among perspective taking, spatial imagery, and mental rotation are large in effect size (Cohen, 1988) and are statistically significant at p

Summary

Introduction

While gender differences in spatial ability (Lauer, Yhang, & Lourenco, 2019; Reilly,Neumann, & Andrews, 2017; Voyer, Voyer, & Saint-Aubin, 2017) and math anxiety (Van Mier, Schleepen, & Van den Berg, 2019; Wigfield & Meece, 1988) are well-documented, the mediating mechanisms between gender and math anxiety, and between spatial ability and math achievement has not been formally tested in a sequential mediation model. Prior research focused on elementary and secondary school students, with little attention paid to the college population. The present study filled these gaps by testing the mediational relationships among gender, spatial ability, math anxiety, and math achievement in a college population. Investigating spatial skills and math anxiety as mediators in a sequential mediation model: A pilot study. JRAMathEdu (Journal of Research and Advances in Mathematics Education), 6(4), 388403.

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