Spatial Thinking Skills Research Articles

The Spatial Thinking Workbook: A Research-Validated Spatial Skills Curriculum for Geology Majors

ABSTRACT Spatial visualization is an essential prerequisite for understanding geological features at all scales, such as the atomic structures of minerals, the geometry of a complex fault system, or the architecture of sedimentary deposits. Undergraduate geoscience majors bring a range of spatial skill levels to upper-level courses. Fortunately, spatial thinking improves with practice, and students benefit from intentional training. Several promising teaching strategies have emerged from recent cognitive science research into spatial thinking: gesturing, predictive sketching, and comparison, including analogy and alignment. Geoscience educators have traditionally incorporated many of these tools in their teaching, though not always consciously, intentionally, and in the most effective ways. Our research team, composed of geoscientists and cognitive psychologists, has collaborated to develop curricular materials for mineralogy, structural geology, and sedimentology and stratigraphy courses that incorporate these strategies intentionally and purposefully, supporting student understanding of the spatially challenging concepts and skills in these courses. Collectively, these two dozen learning activities comprise the Spatial Thinking Workbook (http://serc.carleton.edu/spatialworkbook/index.html). Pre- to posttest gains on a suite of assessment instruments, as well as embedded assessments, show that these curricular materials boost students' spatial thinking skills and strengthen their ability to solve geological problems with a spatial component.

The Impact of Paper Versus Digital Map Technology on Students' Spatial Thinking Skill Acquisition

This study investigates whether spatial learning outcomes differ with respect to different instructional media. Spatial thinking skills were tested pre- and postlesson implementation via the spatial thinking ability test as eighth grade students participated in either paper-based or digital map-based instruction. Students' attitudes toward geography, past travel experience, and demographic variables such as gender, were also examined to search for differences in spatial thinking skill development. Results of the study reveal that both paper and digital media aid in developing and improving spatial thinking skill acquisition among students.

Promoting Sketching in Introductory Geoscience Courses: CogSketch Geoscience Worksheets.

Research from cognitive science and geoscience education has shown that sketching can improve spatial thinking skills and facilitate solving spatially complex problems. Yet sketching is rarely implemented in introductory geosciences courses, due to time needed to grade sketches and lack of materials that incorporate cognitive science research. Here, we report a design-centered, collaborative effort, between geoscientists, cognitive scientists, and artificial intelligence (AI) researchers, to characterize spatial learning challenges in geoscience and to design sketch activities that use a sketch-understanding program, CogSketch. We developed 26 CogSketch worksheets that use cognitive science-based principles to scaffold problem solving of spatially complex geoscience problems and report observations of an implementation in an introductory geoscience course where students used CogSketch or human-graded paper worksheets. Overall, this research highlights the principles of interdisciplinary design between cognitive scientists, geoscientists, and AI researchers that can inform the collaborative design process for others aiming to develop effective educational materials.

Investigating Kindergartners' Geometric and Spatial Thinking Skills: In Context of Gender and Age.

The purpose of this study was to investigate kindergartners’ geometric (shape, area and symmetry) and spatial (spatial orientation and spatial visualization) thinking skills, in the context of gender and age. Whether kindergartners’ geometric and spatial thinking skills vary by their age or gender was questioned. A total of 73 kindergartner (40 boys and 33 girls) aged between 4-5 ( = 4,6) participated this study. Survey Design was used for this study. Participants were selected according to Convenience Sampling method. Accessibility of educational institutions and willingness of teachers, were decisive. “Geometric and Spatial Thinking Skills Test” (GEOST-ST) was used to collect the data. MANOVA (Multivariate ANOVA) was performed for data analysis. According to the results of this study, difference between children’s mean scores of relevant geometric and spatial thinking skills, aren’t statistically significant for gender and age. Article visualizations:

Applications of Location-Based Services and Mobile Technologies in K-12 Classrooms

The use of location-based services and mobile technologies is increasing in K-12 classrooms. In this article, we describe the history and the current use of these tools in the innovative Geospatial Semester project in Virginia. We share a number of examples where students are creating projects of their own interest that use editable feature services, mobile data collection and other cutting-edge technologies. These projects help students build their spatial thinking and problem-solving skills, and help teachers build conceptual understanding in a variety of domains.

Think3d!: Improving mathematics learning through embodied spatial training

Spatial thinking skills positively relate to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) outcomes, but spatial training is largely absent in elementary school. Elementary school is a time when children develop foundational cognitive skills that will support STEM learning throughout their education. Spatial thinking should be considered a foundational cognitive skill. The present research examined the impact of an embodied spatial training program on elementary students’ spatial and mathematical thinking. Students in rural elementary schools completed spatial and math assessments prior to and after participating in an origami and pop-up paper engineering-based program, called Think3d!. Think3d! uses embodied tasks, such as folding and cutting paper, to train two-dimensional to three-dimensional spatial thinking. Analyses explored spatial thinking gains, mathematics gains – specifically for problem types expected to show gains from spatial training – and factors predicting mathematics gains. Results showed spatial thinking gains in two assessments. Using a math categorization to target problems more and less likely to be impacted by spatial training, we found that all students improved on real-world math problems and older students improved on visual and spatial math problems. Further, the results are suggestive of developmental time points for implementing embodied spatial training related to applying spatial thinking to math. Finally, the spatial thinking assessment that was most highly related to training activities also predicted math performance gains. Future research should explore developmental issues related to how embodied spatial training might support STEM learning and outcomes.

Understanding ‘change’ through spatial thinking using Google Earth in secondary geography

AbstractUnderstanding geographic changes has become an indispensable element in geography education. Describing and analyzing changes in space require spatial thinking skills emphasized in geography curriculum but often pose challenges for secondary school students. This school‐based research targets a specific strand of spatial thinking skills and investigates whether students using geospatial technology, such as Google Earth, are able to develop their thinking about spatio‐temporal changes. An experiment was conducted in a Singaporean secondary school in which skill development was framed within the formal geography curriculum. It compared the effectiveness of two pedagogical approaches: learning with Google Earth versus traditional instruction without the use of such a technology. Findings indicate that the use of Google Earth significantly increased students' ability to identify spatial and temporal changes and analyse these changes. Qualitative data complemented the results by showing that Google Earth could offer students more opportunities to observe and infer changes, thus facilitating their understanding about the dynamic and the complex nature of changes.Lay DescriptionWhat is already known about this topic: The advantages of Google Earth utilized as a learning tool over traditional teaching means are obvious regarding building up skills in spatial thinking. Many studies have suggested that incorporating Google Earth into the classroom could help facilitate spatial thinking from the perspective of curriculum design and implementation. What this paper adds: Empirical evidence on the learning effects of using Google Earth in secondary geography education on students' spatial and temporal skills and higher order thinking is provided. Three factors that potentially influence the effects of utilizing geospatial technologies on developing spatial thinking are highlighted. The roles Google Earth plays to assist the development of students' spatial and temporal thinking are identified. Implications for practice and policy: Our findings support the policy to include geospatial technologies as an integral part of school curriculum for effective teaching and learning of spatial thinking. Teachers should be encouraged to incorporate geospatial technologies in classroom to promote spatial skills and higher order thinking. Improvement of the technology‐based learning environment may benefit from considering students' prior knowledge on spatial concepts, the sequence of introducing spatial skills, the type of spatial stimulus used and the depth of technology‐based learning activities.

RESEARCH OF VISUAL CONTEXTUAL SUPPORT FOR THE SUBJECT OF CIRCLE ON MATHEMATICS TEACHER CANDIDATES

The purpose of this study is to research the effects of visual contextual support for the subject of circle in geometry education. The study was conducted by using one of the qualitative research methods, special case study. The sampling of the research was formed by 72 teacher candidates who are studying in Necmettin Erbakan University Ahmet Kelesoglu Faculty of Education Primary Education Department Primary Education Mathematics Teaching Department. As data collection tool, an evaluation consisting of verbally asked problems regarding the subject of circle was used. Questions were selected according to the relevant subject among the Olympics questions. When selecting the questions, care was taken to contain most basic information about the relevant subject but include the attributes that are having difficulties in transferring of concepts into shapes. As a result of the study, it was observed that teacher candidates were having difficulties in transferring the question into a shape while solving the questions that are directed to them without a visual contextual support and reaching the correct answer. In conclusion, it is seen that questions provided with visual contextual support could easily be solved by students but prevents their spatial thinking skills. Article visualizations:

THE URGENCY OF MAP LITERACY AND SPATIAL THINKING FOR URBAN SOCIETY

The development of maps is directly proportional to the rapid advance of information and communication technology. Map becomes a tool to support a wide range of human activities, especially for urban societies. Various professions, daily mobility and lifestyle use map as a tool. It makes map literacy, for urban society, a must-have skill in order to live more effectively and efficiently. Map literacy is believed to have an interrelationship with spatial thinking. This ability gave a chance to build space literacy required by the urban people to adapt, act, behave and make decisions within the context of space. From the perspective of dynamic spatial changes and the complex problems of urban areas, it is necessary for urban society to have excellent map literacy and spatial thinking skills. Both of these abilities will reduce burden of urban society in their activity. Map literacy and spatial thinking are very good to build from early age. When children are already capable of abstract thinking, that's a good time to develop them. One way to build spatial literacy and thinking skills is to put it into school learning process. Social Science as a subject has a strategic position in developing that ability. This article examines the importance of map literacy and the ability to think spatially for urban society of the results of the literature study and previous research. The discussion in this article started from the various urban problems associated with space, then defined map literacy and spatial thinking ability and the role of Social Studies in developing both of these abilities. Article visualizations:

Understanding Spatial Pattern Cognition from Tactile Maps and Graphics

This article explores the cognitive dimensions of spatial pattern identification in people who are blind or low vision using tactile graphics. We contend that spatial pattern identification is critical to the construction of an informative and rich environmental image, and insight into these cognitive skills can inform current practices in tactile map production and accessible cartography. This research investigates individual spatial thinking skills hypothesized to be components of spatial pattern identification. The findings suggest that Cartesian proximity and object differentiation are vital cognitive skills of spatial pattern identification and could potentially be exploited to communicate complex environmental knowledge in tactile reference maps. The relationship between prior map-reading training and test performance indicates a critical need for an increased presence of tactile cartographies and highlights future research opportunities.

Facilitating spatial thinking in world geography using Web-based GIS

Advocates for geographic information system (GIS) education contend that learning about GIS promotes students’ spatial thinking. Empirical studies are still needed to elucidate the potential of GIS as an instructional tool to support spatial thinking in other geography courses. Using a non-equivalent control group research design, this study examines the effect of using Web-based GIS in a world geography course on the development of students’ spatial thinking abilities. The findings indicate that Web-based GIS activities implemented in this study significantly enhanced students’ spatial thinking skills.

The future role of GIS education in creating critical spatial thinkers

Teaching of critical spatial thinking in higher education empowers graduates to effectively engage with spatial data. Geographic information systems (GIS) and science are taught to undergraduates across many disciplines; we evaluate how this contributes to critical spatial thinking. The discipline of GIS covers the whole process of spatial decision-making, but GIS modules often ignore the context setting of spatial problems, and just cover the technical aspects of how to use GIS software. We outline how some existing GIS practicals could be improved to focus on the development of critical spatial thinking skills, competences and abilities that are valuable to graduates.

Future Teachers’ Spatial Thinking Skills and Attitudes

The spatial thinking skills and attitudes of geography majors were compared with those of future teachers majoring in elementary education and secondary social studies education. Scores were obtained for each group on two measures: the spatial skills test and the attitude toward spatial thinking inventory. Mean differences were examined based on five factors: major, gender, travel experience, geography courses, and experience using geographic information systems (GIS). For both outcome measures, results showed that the mean scores for elementary education majors were significantly lower than scores from secondary social studies majors and geography majors. Geography majors outperformed both groups of education majors on both measures. Implications for the preparation of geography teachers are discussed.

Black Fifth Graders Make Dioramas of Traditional African Cultures to Explore Racial Identity, Cultural Universals, and Spatial Thinking

This rich, arts- and spatial-thinking-integrated project examined the effects of making three-dimensional dioramas of traditional African cultures on Black fifth graders at an urban school on students’ racial identities, knowledge of cultural universals, and spatial thinking skills. Pretest and posttest attitudes measured with the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity–Teen evidenced an increase in sense of belonging to other Black people. Students learned social studies content and recognized many cultural universals, allowing them to feel connected to the African groups. Student essays showed admiration for African cultures, connections through similar foods, and links through appreciation of animals.

Formation of spatial thinking skills through different training methods.

Spatial training can be durable and transferable if the training involves cognitive process-based tasks. The current study explored different spatial training methods and investigated the sequences of process-based mental simulation that was facilitated by various structures of external spatial representation, 3D technology, spatial cues, and/or technical languages. A total of 115 Columbia University's students were conducted through three experiments using a between-subjects design to examine the effects of spatial training methods on spatial ability performance. The conditions for training environments included 3D-virtual and 3D-physical interactions with abstract (nonsense-geometric) and concrete (everyday-object) contents. Overall, learners in the treatment conditions improved in their spatial skills significantly more than those in the control conditions. Particularly, 3D-direct-manipulation conditions in the third experiment added promising results about the specific sequences during spatial thinking formation processes.

Science Inquiry into Local Animals: Structure and Function Explored through Model Making

ABSTRACTThis article describes an arts- and spatial thinking skill–integrated inquiry project applied to life science concepts from the Next Generation Science Standards for fourth grade students that focuses on two unifying or crosscutting themes: (1) structure (or “form”) and function and (2) use of models. Students made observations and photographs of common wild mammals that lived near their homes, such as squirrels, rabbits, deer, groundhogs, and opossums. They then created a three-dimensional diorama to showcase models of the various structures and functions that help the animals survive. These models included a papier-mâché model of the animal's home with explanations of its form and functions, acrylic polymer clay models of the animal, a student-drawn computer generated fold-up model of the animal in a natural history scene, models of the animal's dentition, and models of its skull made from recycled plastic bottles. Student comments, photographs of example finished products, a chart of spatial thinking skills addressed by the project, and a rubric for scoring this successful project are included.

Looking within and beyond the geometry curriculum: connecting spatial reasoning to mathematics learning

This commentary adopts a broad perspective in considering the contributions of papers from cross- and interdisciplinary fields of mathematics education, psychology, child development and neuroscience. The discussion aims to complement the commentary by Dindyal, focused on background research on geometry and implications for pedagogy and curricula. Spatial reasoning is considered as a common underlying theme salient to most of the papers in this issue. The fundamental role of spatial ability or visual thinking skills in young children is traced through the various theoretical approaches of studies ranging from concepts such as perspective taking, symmetry, and two- and three-dimensional shape, to the role of technological tools in mapping and location. Intervention studies to promote early spatial reasoning also provide insight into effective transformative practices. New questions are raised about the crucial development of spatial reasoning in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. The commentary suggests the need for a more strategic research agenda that aims to coordinate the key questions and methodologies that investigate what may seem common problems.

Website "Technical drawing" for development of spatial and constructive thinking

<em>Nowadays, not every school of Latvia offers it’s pupils to acquire the basics of technical drawing. As a result, university lecturers often find that students lack the spatial and constructive thinking skills needed to successfully participate in graphics and design related courses. To try to improve the situation in early 2013, Riga Technical University lecturer Ieva Jurāne (Mg.sc.ing.), in collaboration with University of Liepaja Natural and Engineering Faculty, decided to develop a website "Technical Drawing" (http: //rasesana.it- studenti.liepu.edu.lv), in which every interested person, irrespective of whether it is a student or a pupil, could independently solve a variety of technical drawing course related tasks, thus developing their spatial and constructive thinking skills, which later makes it easier to learn complex Engineering Graphics programs such as AutoCAD or SolidWorks. This publication is made to present the web sites "Technical Drawing" purpose, content and development process.</em>

Student Gestures Aid Penetrative Thinking

ABSTRACTPenetrative thinking, or the ability to visualize and reason about the interior structure of an object based on what is visible on the surface, is critical for success in many science disciplines, especially the geosciences, where inferences about the Earth must be made from what can be seen on the surface. A growing body of research has shown that spatial thinking skills are related to achievement in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines; thus, improving such skills may enhance STEM learning. In the current study, we examined whether using gestures, embodied representations of three-dimensional (3D) spatial relationships, facilitates penetrative thinking. Participants in the gesture group used their hands to explain how they would build 3D versions of geologic block diagrams from flat layers of Play-Doh. Participants in the gesture-prohibited group were asked to explain verbally, without using their hands, how they would build 3D versions of geologic block diagrams. Participants in the gesture group showed improvement on the Geologic Block Cross-Sectioning Test (GBCT), an objective measure of penetrative thinking, while participants in the gesture-prohibited group did not. These results suggest that gesturing facilitates penetrative thinking, and we discuss them in the context of integrating gesture into science classrooms.

To the problem of using multimedia technologies in English language teaching.

This article deals with the application of a wide range of multimedia technologies in teaching and learning foreign languages. It reveals three main areas to be used for the expansion of cognitive abilities of students. First is the use of presentations. The main tool for making presentations is “Power Point” program. The second area is the application of multimedia capabilities of the Internet. Basically, the following resources are considered: "Album" (scrapbook), the "Treasure Hunt", the problem statement (subject sampler), a list of subject references (hotlist), forum. The third area represented in the article contains an analysis of blogs technology in teaching and learning the English language. This section describes different types of blogs, showing the blogs potential in the increase of computer literacy and proficiency in English. From the above analysis we can conclude that the multimedia technologies in education are used inefficiently. Using the computer should not be something artificial. It has to become an integral part of the educational process. The use of computer technologies in education is expanding horizons, enables to learn the discipline better, promotes students' interest in learning, generates creativity, spatial and logical thinking, imagination, observation and certain scientific skills.