STEM Learning and Learning Environments  

Synthesizing Research on Spatial Taxonomies

Effective Years: 2021-2025

This award will support a series of workshops focused on spatial abilities and tests related to STEM education. Individual difference in spatial thinking has been tied to differences in STEM learning, but advances in applying these research findings to practice have been impeded by the lack of an organizing theory and related measurement protocols. The team of investigators from Northwestern University, Temple University, and the University of California at Santa Barbara propose to address this gap in the literature by convening a series of workshops and will produce a theoretical review and explication of taxonomies of spatial abilities and a consensus document that summarizes the most important next steps in research and development of spatial tests for STEM education. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports fundamental research that advances the research literature on STEM learning. The project will consist of a series of three meetings (both virtual and in-person) bringing together researchers from cognitive science, psychometrics, science education and discipline-based education research (DBER) fields. The iterative nature of the meetings is designed to facilitate consensus-making in developing the taxonomy. The participants will conduct a review of the literatures in multiple fields in order to bring into contact the various theoretical and analytic frameworks that have governed measurement of spatial cognition. Their preliminary findings will be presented at conferences in a number of different fields in order to get further input. The final documents will be written for wide dissemination. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.