Investigating the use of spatial reasoning strategies in geometric problem solving

Jeffrey Buckley,Donal Canty,Niall Seery

doi:10.1007/s10798-018-9446-3

Abstract

A core aim of contemporary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is the development of robust problem-solving skills. This can be achieved by fostering both discipline knowledge expertise and general cognitive abilities associated with problem solving. One of the most important cognitive abilities in STEM education is spatial ability however understandings of how students use this ability in practice are currently underdeveloped. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how levels of spatial ability impacted both performance and approaches to problem solving. In the context of graphical education, selected due to its significant overlap with technological, mathematical and engineering knowledge, a repeated cross-sectional study design was implemented to gather longitudinal data of student approaches to problem solving. A battery of psychometric tests of spatial ability was administered to two cohorts and problem solving was examined through a variety of graphical problems. The findings illustrate a relationship between attaining higher levels of spatial ability and performance. Participants with lower levels of spatial ability evidenced the utilisation of models to a greater extend with a particular emphasis on models with the capacity to alleviate the need for spatial reasoning.

Highlights

The development of robust problem-solving skills is among one of the most important focusses of contemporary education (Dow 2006)
In STEM education, spatial ability has been shown to correlate with academic performance in multiple sub-disciplines including biology (Rochford 1985; Russell-Gebbett 1985), chemistry (Small and Morton 1983; Wu and Shah 2004), physics (Kozhevnikov et al 2007), mathematics (Cheng and Mix 2014; Cromley et al 2017; Pittalis and Christou 2010; Sorby et al 2013), computer programming (Jones and Burnett 2008), design (Lin 2016), engineering graphics (Marunic and Glazar 2013), geometry (Suzuki et al 1990), and engineering (Alias et al 2002; Sorby 2009)
Based on this evidence it is clear that spatial ability is a particular ability which supports problem solving in many STEM education disciplines

Summary

Introduction

The development of robust problem-solving skills is among one of the most important focusses of contemporary education (Dow 2006). Technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in particular, problem solving in a core pedagogical approach adopted to facilitate academic achievement (Barrows 1996; Gallagher et al 1995; Lou et al 2011; Perrenet et al 2000; Williams and Williams 1997; Williams et al 2008). A number of longitudinal studies examining the association between spatial ability and STEM across multiple subdisciplines provide evidence which categorically demonstrates its importance (Shea et al 2001; Wai et al 2009; Webb et al 2007) Based on this evidence it is clear that spatial ability is a particular ability which supports problem solving in many STEM education disciplines

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion