When do spatial abilities support student comprehension of STEM visualizations?

The neural and cognitive basis of expository text comprehension

As science and technology rapidly progress, it becomes increasingly important to understand how individuals comprehend expository technical texts that explain these advances. This study examined differences in individual readers' technical comprehension performance and differences among texts, using functional brain imaging to measure regional brain activity while students read passages on technical topics and then took a comprehension test. Better comprehension of the technical passages was related to higher activation in regions of the left inferior frontal gyrus, left superior parietal lobe, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and bilateral hippocampus. These areas are associated with the construction of a mental model of the passage and with the integration of new and prior knowledge in memory. Poorer comprehension of the passages was related to greater activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the precuneus, areas involved in autobiographical and episodic memory retrieval. More comprehensible passages elicited more brain activation associated with establishing links among different types of information in the text and activation associated with establishing conceptual coherence within the text representation. These findings converge with previous behavioral research in their implications for teaching technical learners to become better comprehenders and for improving the structure of instructional texts, to facilitate scientific and technological comprehension.

Malleability of spatial skills: bridging developmental psychology and toy design for joyful STEAM development

Previous research has established that advances in spatial cognition predict STEAM success, and construction toys provide ample opportunities to foster spatial cognition. Despite various construction toy designs in the market, mostly brick-shaped building blocks are used in spatial cognition research. This group of toys is known to enhance mental rotation; however, mental rotation is not the only way to comprehend the environment three-dimensionally. More specifically, mental folding and perspective taking training have not received enough attention as they can also be enhanced with the construction toys, which are framed based on the 2×2 classification of spatial skills (intrinsic-static, intrinsic-dynamic, extrinsic-static, extrinsic-dynamic). To address these gaps, we compile evidence from both developmental psychology and toy design fields to show the central role played by mental folding and perspective taking skills as well as the importance of the variety in toy designs. The review was conducted systematically by searching peer reviewed design and psychology journals and conference proceedings. We suggest that, over and above their physical properties, construction toys offer affordances to elicit spatial language, gesture, and narrative among child-caregiver dyads. These interactions are essential for the development of spatial skills in both children and their caregivers. As developmental psychology and toy design fields are two domains that can contribute to the purpose of developing construction toys to boost spatial skills, we put forward six recommendations to bridge the current gaps between these fields. Consequently, new toy designs and empirical evidence regarding malleability of different spatial skills can contribute to the informal STEAM development.

Effectiveness of Computer-Generated Virtual Reality (VR) in Learning and Teaching Environments with Spatial Frameworks

In this paper, we highlight the benefits of using computer-generated VR in teaching instructional content that have spatial frameworks such as in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. Spatial ability scores were collected from a sample (N = 62) of undergraduate and graduate students. Students were required to complete an instructional tutorial in VR and computer desktop screening on DNA molecules, which included necessary information about DNA and nucleotide molecules. Students also completed a comprehensive test about the spatial structure of DNA and a feedback questionnaire. Results from the questionnaire showed media use and satisfaction to be significantly related. The results also showed a significant interaction between spatial ability levels (low, medium, and high) and media used on students’ spatial understanding of the DNA molecules. It may be concluded that VR visualization had a positive compensating impact on students with low spatial ability.