Project Activities
The spatial skills curriculum was designed for supplemental instruction. It consists of nine modules, each of which includes both multimedia software and workbook pages. In Year 1, the research team will gather baseline data on students' spatial skills, mathematics achievement, and motivation at participating schools. In Years 2 and 3, the research team will conduct a three-level clustered randomized controlled trial, where teachers will be randomly assigned into treatment and control conditions. Participating students from Years 2 and 3 will be tracked into Year 4 to determine any long term impacts from the spatial skills curriculum.
Structured Abstract
Setting
This project will take place in schools located in urban and suburban school districts in multiple states.
Sample
The sample will include about 55 middle school teachers and their approximately 1100 seventh grade students.
The spatial skills curriculum is intended as supplemental instruction. The curriculum consists of nine modules, each of which focuses on a different topic of spatial skills training and each of which includes activities using multimedia software and workbook pages. Each module is designed to take up approximately two class periods, for a total of 18 class periods throughout the school year. The curriculum includes a combination of active strategies that have been designed to engage students in their own learning. The software modules include instructional information about the topic at hand as well as several sets of matching and multiple-choice problems. The workbook pages contain additional matching and multiple-choice problems, but also include additional exercises where students sketch objects from multiple vantage points.
Research design and methods
In Year 1, the research team will gather baseline data on students' spatial skills, mathematics achievement, and motivation at participating schools. In Years 2 and 3, the research team will carry out the three-level clustered randomized controlled trial. Teachers will be randomly assigned to either the treatment (spatial skills curriculum) or control condition. In Year 2, teachers in the spatial skills curriculum condition will implement the curriculum in their classrooms throughout the school year while teachers in the control condition will engage in business-as-usual instruction. In Year 3, all teachers will implement the spatial skills curriculum. All participating students in Years 2 and 3 will take pre-tests to assess their spatial skills, mathematics achievement, and motivation prior to the start of the curriculum implementation. All participating students in Years 2 and 3 will take post-tests to assess spatial skills, mathematics achievement, and motivation within one month after the end of the implementation of the curriculum. The research team will collect the Year 2 cohort of students' standardized test scores, STEM course grades, and STEM course taking for two years following the implementation of the curriculum. They will collect the same data for the Year 3 cohort of students for one year after the implementation of the curriculum.
Control condition
The control condition will be business as usual instruction.
Key measures
The primary measures will include assessments of spatial skills, mathematics achievement, and motivation. Spatial skills measures will include items from the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations, Mental Cutting Test, Differential Aptitude Test: Space Relations, and items from a test of visualization modified by the research team to be consistent with the curriculum. Mathematics achievement measures will include released items from the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) focused on geometry and problem solving, scores on CSAP mathematics and science tests, scores on the geometry and word problem subcomponent of the CSAP mathematics test, end of year grades in mathematics and science courses, and 9th grade mathematics placement levels. Motivation will be measured using the Geometry Motivation Questionnaire.
Data analytic strategy
After testing for baseline equivalence using general linear models, the research team will analyze the data using a three-level hierarchical linear model, with teachers at level 3, classrooms nested within teachers at level 2, and students nested within classrooms at level 1. The research team will also analyze the effects of potential moderators such as gender and socioeconomic status at the different levels of the model.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Products and publications
The research team will generate evidence of the efficacy of the spatial skills curriculum for improving middle school students' spatial skills and mathematics achievement, and peer reviewed publications.
Publications:
Atit, K., Power, J. R., Veurink, N., Uttal, D. H., Sorby, S., Panther, G., ... & Carr, M. (2020). Examining the role of spatial skills and mathematics motivation on middle school mathematics achievement. International Journal of STEM Education, 7, 1-13.
Fiorella, L., Yoon, S. Y., Atit, K., Power, J. R., Panther, G., Sorby, S., ... & Veurink, N. (2021). Validation of the Mathematics Motivation Questionnaire (MMQ) for secondary school students. International Journal of STEM Education, 8, 1-14.
Power, J. R., & Sorby, S. A. (2021). Spatial development program for middle school: Teacher perceptions of effectiveness. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 31(5), 901-918.
Sorby, S. A., Duffy, G., & Yoon, S. Y. (2022). Math instrument development for examining the relationship between spatial and mathematical problem-solving skills. Education Sciences, 12(11), 828.
Sorby, S. A., & Panther, G. C. (2020). Is the key to better PISA math scores improving spatial skills?. Mathematics Education Research Journal, 32(2), 213-233.
Additional project information
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
