71 research outputs found
Examining the Relations Between Spatial Skills and Mathematics Performance: A Meta-Analysis
No full textSupplementary materials for "Atit, K., Power, J.R., Pigott, T. et al. Examining the relations between spatial skills and mathematical performance: A meta-analysis. Psychon Bull Rev 29, 699–720 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-021-02012-w
Examining the Relations Between Spatial Skills and Mathematics Performance: A Meta-Analysis
No full textSupplementary materials for "Atit, K., Power, J.R., Pigott, T. et al. Examining the relations between spatial skills and mathematical performance: A meta-analysis. Psychon Bull Rev 29, 699–720 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-021-02012-w
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Gender Differences in Confidence, Calibration and Willingness to Share Problem Solutions in Math
No full textThis dissertation investigates gender differences in (1) retrospective (i.e., measured after task completion) item-specific confidence judgments, and whether these judgments were warranted. Of particular interest was whether gender interacts with problem difficulty to explain confidence, calibration (speaks to the accuracy of confidence judgments), and under/overconfidence. Furthermore, it examines whether, after controlling for confidence, there are gender differences in students’ willingness to share math problem solutions, and whether this relationship depends on problem difficulty. This study analyzed confidence judgments and reports of willingness to share for 13 challenging math problems administered to 628 students enrolled in an undergraduate precalculus course. Results were that, compared to females, males tended to be more confident and more willing to share; however, as problem difficulty increased, the gender gap in confidence decreased. Females were found to be better calibrated than males, and this gap decreased with increasing problem difficulty. Additionally, the transition from easier to harder problems was accompanied by a transition from under- to over-confidence for females, but not males. Findings of this study have implications for how to support math learning for women and increase the retention of women in math-intensive STEM domains
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Examining the Effect of Gesture-Use on Teaching Mathematical Equivalence in Elementary School Classrooms
No full textTeachers regularly use gestures—meaningful movements of the hands (Alibali, 2005)—when conveying STEM content to their students. Researchers have found that gestures can be particularly useful as a scaffold for student learning of mathematical equivalence (i.e. Goldin-Meadow, Kim, & Singer, 1999; Novack et al., 2014; Singer & Goldin-Meadow, 2005). Mathematical equivalence is a fundamental math concept taught early in elementary school that many students struggle with fully understanding (McNeil, 2008). Though there is evidence that supports gesture-use when teaching mathematical equivalence in a laboratory setting, there is a lack of evidence supporting its use in a classroom setting. In this study we examined if teacher’s gesture-use would be beneficial to students’ mathematical equivalence understanding in second grade classrooms. Further, we investigated whether gesture-use would affect learning outcomes differently within English Language Learning (ELL) students. Participants (n=119) were from seven classes and approximately half of the sample was of ELL status. Results did not support the use of gestures being more effective than the “business as usual” control; however, there was not a significant difference between the learning outcomes of ELL students and their non-ELL counterparts. This study highlights the necessity for further research on the use of gestures (and their impact) in the classroom setting
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Learning and Memory in Minecraft: Objects and Object-Location Associations in a Virtual Open-Field Environment
No full textThis study investigates the potential impact of passive learning for retaining spatial memory using an open-field Minecraft environment. The goal was to understand the extent to which memory of object locations can be retained when learned from watching a video. We wanted to understand the role of hippocampus-dependent development of episodic and spatial memory as it pertains to the consolidation of memories from this passive learning experience. We examined how 59 participants retained object-location associations from viewing a video featuring an avatar navigating to 12 specific objects. After watching the video, participants were given a paper-based object recognition and sequence recall test to gauge immediate object memory. Following this, they navigated the Minecraft environment to locate the objects, with their accuracy measured through Euclidean distances calculated with recorded coordinates. Our findings reveal strong positive correlations within and between the Paper-Based Object Recognition and Sequence Task and the In-Vivo Environment Task. This indicates that better memory for identifying objects and recalling their sequence of appearance corresponds, respectively, with the ability to find the correct objects and navigate accurately between objects. This study suggests there is a viable approach to enhancing spatial memory through passive learning in enriched virtual environments. It aligns with prior research suggesting that complex tasks requiring spatial skills conducted in virtual settings, like Minecraft, can positively impact hippocampal-dependent memory processes
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Facilitating Student Understanding of Electrostatics Using Gestures and Topographic Maps
No full textThe purpose of this exploratory study was to examine whether integrating gestures into instruction on electrostatics and using the analogy of topographic maps to teach electrostatic diagrams facilitated undergraduate students’ understanding for electrostatics. We also examined whether spatial skills, specifically spatial visualization and mental rotation, influenced the effect of this pedagogical intervention, and whether gender influenced spatial skills, and the effect of baseline and intervention instruction. Results indicate that the effect of intervention was generally positive and comparable to baseline textbook-inspired instruction for all participants. However, female participants benefitted more from the intervention, while male participants benefitted more from baseline instruction. Results also indicate that mental rotation skill and gender both generally predicted performance, and gender predicted mental rotation skill. While additional study is certainly needed to measure the unique effects of gesture and analogy separately, these results provide evidence that the addition of these cost-effective teaching strategies in tandem may predictably bolster student understanding of this and other domain-specific STEM topics
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Investigating the Relations Between Elementary School Teachers’ Spatial Cognition, Affect, and Preferences for Spatial Pedagogical Practices
No full textSpatial skills, the set of cognitive skills that are responsible for our understanding of objects in real and imagined spaces, have been identified as a potential gate-keeper for STEM success. Because of the recent emphasis on improving education to prepare for the increasing demand for workers in STEM fields, there is a rising interest in bolstering students’ spatial skills to address this challenge. Given the evidence that teachers’ skills and attitudes toward a domain can affect their pedagogical practice within that domain and in turn affect their students’ learning and achievement, some researchers have focused their attention on understanding how to best support teachers. This study seeks to understand how specifically elementary school teachers’ spatial cognition and spatial affect impact their preference for implementing pedagogical devices that would promote the development of their students’ spatial thinking skills. It is imperative to study this particular sample of teachers because of the well-established presence of spatial reasoning in childhood and in the elementary school curriculum. Eighty elementary school teachers completed measures of spatial skills, spatial anxiety, spatial habits of mind, preferences for spatial pedagogy, general anxiety, and general reasoning. Results indicate that elementary school teachers' spatial skills were negatively associated with their spatial anxiety, and teachers who display higher levels of spatial skills reported greater preferences for using spatial pedagogy in hypothetical teaching situations. These findings have implications for teacher professional development related to supporting students’ spatial skills during science and math instruction in elementary school
Pattern Identification or 3D Visualization? How Best to Learn Topographic Map Comprehension
No full textScience, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) experts employ many representations that novices find hard to use because they require a critical STEM skill, interpreting two-dimensional (2D) diagrams that represent three-dimensional (3D) information. The current research focuses on learning to interpret topographic maps. Understanding topographic maps requires knowledge of how to interpret the conventions of contour lines, and skill in visualizing that information in 3D (e.g. shape of the terrain). Novices find both tasks difficult. The present study compared two interventions designed to facilitate understanding for topographic maps to minimal text-only instruction. The 3D Visualization group received instruction using 3D gestures and models to help visualize three topographic forms. The Pattern Identification group received instruction using pointing and tracing gestures to help identify the contour patterns associated with the three topographic forms. The Text-based Instruction group received only written instruction explaining topographic maps. All participants then completed a measure of topographic map use. The Pattern Identification group performed better on the map use measure than participants in the Text-based Instruction group, but no significant difference was found between the 3D Visualization group and the other two groups. These results suggest that learning to identify meaningful contour patterns is an effective strategy for learning how to comprehend topographic maps. Future research should address if learning strategies for how to interpret the information represented on a diagram (e.g. identify patterns in the contour lines), before trying to visualize the information in 3D (e.g. visualize the 3D structure of the terrain), also facilitates students' comprehension of other similar types of diagrams.Psycholog
Supplementary materials [Code] to "Examining the role of spatial and mathematical processes and gender in postsecondary precalculus"
No full textSupplementary materials [Code] to: Wilbur, R. C., Atit, K., Agrawal, P., Carrillo, B., Lussier, C. M., Noack, D., Poon, Y. S., & Weisbart, D. (2024). Examining the role of spatial and mathematical processes and gender in postsecondary precalculus. Journal of Numerical Cognition, 10, Article e14247. https://doi.org/10.5964/jnc.14247The Supplementary Material contains R-codes for analysis and for missingness, multicollinearity, imputation.unknownunknow
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