Exploiting the Connection between Spatial Skills and Computer Science

利用空间技能和计算机科学之间的联系

• 批准号: 2279091
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Glasgow
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2279091
• 关键词: Exploiting; Connection; between; Spatial; Skills

The research is set within the context of spatial skills development and their relationship to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) subjects generally and Computing Science (CS) in particular. Spatial skills consist of a collection of individual abilities such as mental rotations and transformations and the identification of shapes and patterns in plain and obscured fields. In the 1950s, a strong correlation was identified between spatial skills and ability in STEM subjects. Spatial skills can be trained, using fairly straight-forward exercises. In a range of individual STEM subjects, most particularly in Engineering, a causal link has been established between spatial skills training and an improvement in those subjects. Moreover, the effects of spatial skills training and subject training appear to operate in both directions: while spatial skills training improves subject ability, so does subject training improve spatial skills (only to a lesser extent). There appears to be a third, "hidden", ability on which both have an influence.The aim of this research is to explore spatial skills in relation to CS. There is plenty of evidence that spatial skills are correlated with CS ability, but no definitive causal link has yet been established between spatial skills training and improvements in CS ability. The supervisor and student have, in prior work, shown that a causal link is likely to exist, but a stronger experiment is required. Hence an initial study is underway to determine more definitely whether a causal link exists.In prior work again, the supervisor and student have proposed a model to explain how the range of individual spatial skills could be related to individual skills within CS. A major objective of the research is to validate the model, and a number of separate studies will be designed to do this. An outcome of this work could be to develop approaches to CS education that directly act on CS skills and the third "hidden" ability outlined above, rather than using spatial skills as the conduit.The value of this work lies in the importance of developing computational thinking skills necessary in CS and more broadly across modern societies. The subject has become mandatory in schools from an early age and is now clearly deemed to be societally important. Yet in the past, the success rates in CS courses in universities and secondary schools has not been high. The supervisor's past work suggests that the difference between those who succeed in CS courses and those who don't lies in non-school activities - and the particular activities identified have a relationship with spatial skills. Furthermore, it is well-documented that low spatial skills are more prevalent in children from low socio-economic backgrounds. By further exploring the link between spatial skills training and CS, and by devising improved CS educational activities based on our model, we aim ultimately to improve CS education from the early school years, enabling all learners to develop sound computing-related skills.

该研究以空间技能发展及其与 STEM（科学、技术、工程、数学）学科尤其是计算科学 (CS) 的关系为背景。空间技能由个人能力的集合组成，例如心理旋转和变换以及识别简单和模糊区域中的形状和图案。 20 世纪 50 年代，人们发现 STEM 科目的空间技能和能力之间存在很强的相关性。空间技能可以通过相当简单的练习来训练。在一系列 STEM 个别科目中，尤其是工程领域，空间技能培训与这些科目的进步之间已经建立了因果关系。此外，空间技能培训和学科培训的效果似乎是双向的：空间技能培训提高了学科能力，学科培训也提高了空间技能（只是程度较小）。似乎还有第三种“隐藏”能力，两者都会产生影响。本研究的目的是探索与 CS 相关的空间技能。有大量证据表明空间技能与 CS 能力相关，但空间技能训练与 CS 能力提高之间尚未建立明确的因果关系。导师和学生在之前的工作中已经表明，因果关系可能存在，但需要更强有力的实验。因此，一项初步研究正在进行中，以确定是否存在因果关系。在之前的工作中，导师和学生再次提出了一个模型来解释个人空间技能的范围如何与计算机科学中的个人技能相关。该研究的一个主要目标是验证该模型，并且将设计一些单独的研究来实现此目的。这项工作的成果可能是开发直接作用于计算机科学技能和上述第三种“隐藏”能力的计算机科学教育方法，而不是使用空间技能作为渠道。这项工作的价值在于发展计算机科学以及更广泛的现代社会所需的计算思维技能的重要性。该科目从小就成为学校的必修课，现在显然被认为具有社会重要性。但过去，大学和中学的计算机科学课程成功率并不高。主管过去的工作表明，那些在计算机科学课程中取得成功的人和那些没有成功的人之间的区别在于非学校活动，并且所确定的特定活动与空间技能有关。此外，有充分证据表明，社会经济背景较低的儿童空间技能较低的情况更为普遍。通过进一步探索空间技能培训和计算机科学之间的联系，并根据我们的模型设计改进的计算机科学教育活动，我们的最终目标是从学年早期开始改善计算机科学教育，使所有学习者都能发展良好的计算相关技能。