Having good spatial skills strongly predicts achievement and attainment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (e.g., Shea, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2001; Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009). Improving spatial skills is therefore of both theoretical and practical importance. To determine whether and to what extent training and experience can improve these skills, we meta-analyzed 217 research studies investigating the magnitude, moderators, durability, and generalizability of training on spatial skills. After eliminating outliers, the average effect size (Hedges's g) for training relative to control was 0.47 (SE = 0.04). Training effects were stable and were not affected by delays between training and posttesting. Training also transferred to other spatial tasks that were not directly trained. We analyzed the effects of several moderators, including the presence and type of control groups, sex, age, and type of training. Additionally, we included a theoretically motivated typology of spatial skills that emphasizes 2 dimensions: intrinsic versus extrinsic and static versus dynamic (Newcombe & Shipley, in press). Finally, we consider the potential educational and policy implications of directly training spatial skills. Considered together, the results suggest that spatially enriched education could pay substantial dividends in increasing participation in mathematics, science, and engineering.

Abstract— As the articles in this special issue suggest, linking concrete and abstract representations remains a fundamentally important challenge of cognition development and education research. This issue is considered from the perspective of the dual‐representation hypothesis—all symbols are simultaneously objects in their own right and representations of something else—which can shed light on the challenges of linking concrete and symbolic representations. Manipulations that lead children to focus on the object properties may actually make it harder for them to focus on what the symbols represent. Conversely, decreasing children’s attention to the object’s properties can make it easier for them to establish a link between concrete and symbolic. The educational implications of the dual‐representation hypothesis are considered.

Academic-clinical research partnerships can benefit academic and clinical partners when goals are clearly articulated and mutually determined and include increased research dissemination and lower research costs. This article explores the history of academic-clinical research partnerships and discusses the drivers of collaborative academic-clinical research relationships, resources from academia and clinical sites, and sustainability of collaborative partnerships. Through collaboration, academic-clinical partners can improve clinical outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

The PILOT scale score can be obtained retrospectively and has good reliability. It can discriminate patients receiving ICP-directed therapy, even among patients with severe TBI, and correlates with measures of injury severity, outcome, and ICP in an expected way. Thus, it seems to be a valid measure of the use of ICP-directed therapy, although prospective, multiple-center validation is recommended.

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