Synthesizing Research on Spatial Taxonomies

该奖项将支持一系列以空间能力和与STEM教育相关的测试为重点的讲习班。空间思维的个体差异一直与STEM学习的差异有关，但由于缺乏组织理论和相关测量方案，将这些研究成果应用于实践的进展受到阻碍。来自西北大学、坦普尔大学和加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的研究团队提议通过召开一系列研讨会来解决这一文献空白，并将对空间能力的分类进行理论审查和解释，并制定一份共识文件，总结STEM教育空间测试研究和开发的最重要的下一步步骤。该项目由EHR核心研究(ECR)计划资助，该计划支持促进STEM学习研究文献的基础研究。该项目将包括一系列三次会议(包括虚拟和面对面)，来自认知科学、心理测量学、科学教育和基于学科的教育研究(DBER)领域的研究人员将聚集在一起。会议的迭代性质旨在促进在制定分类法方面达成共识。与会者将对多个领域的文献进行审查，以便接触到支配空间认知测量的各种理论和分析框架。他们的初步调查结果将在若干不同领域的会议上提出，以便获得进一步的投入。最终文件将用于广泛传播。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.