Spatial Ability and Learning to Program

Jones, Sue Jane; Burnett, Gary

doi:10.17011/ht/urn.200804151352

Cited by 80 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…These studies typically present correlational evidence between psychometric tests of specific spatial skills and educational performance. This type of evidence continues to emerge with spatial ability now being identified as relevant to many STEM disciplines and sub-disciplines including biology (Rochford 1985;Russell-Gebbett 1985), chemistry (Small and Morton 1983;Wu and Shah 2004), physics (Kozhevnikov et al 2007), mathematics (Cheng and Mix 2014;Pittalis and Christou 2010;Sorby et al 2013), computer programming (Jones and Burnett 2008), design (H. Lin 2016), engineering graphics (Marunic and Glazar 2013), geometry (Suzuki et al 1990), and engineering (Alias et al 2002;Sorby 2009).…”

Section: The Importance Of Spatial Ability In Stem Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Heuristic Framework of Spatial Ability: a Review and Synthesis of Spatial Factor Literature to Support its Translation into STEM Education

2018

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An abundance of empirical evidence exists identifying a significant correlation between spatial ability and educational performance particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Despite this evidence, a causal explanation has yet to be identified. Pertinent research illustrates that spatial ability can be developed and that doing so has positive educational effects. However, contention exists within the relevant literature concerning the explicit definition for spatial ability. There is therefore a need to define spatial ability relative to empirical evidence which in this circumstance relates to its factor structure. Substantial empirical evidence supports the existence of unique spatial factors not represented in modern frameworks. Further understanding such factors can support the development of educational interventions to increase their efficacy and related effects in STEM education. It may also lead to the identification of why spatial ability has such a significant impact on STEM educational achievement as examining more factors in practice can help in deducing which are most important. In light of this, a synthesis of the spatial factors offered within existing frameworks with those suggested within contemporary studies is presented to guide further investigation and the translation of spatial ability research to further enhance learning in STEM education.

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Section: The Importance Of Spatial Ability In Stem Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Heuristic Framework of Spatial Ability: a Review and Synthesis of Spatial Factor Literature to Support its Translation into STEM Education

2018

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“…Similarly, Holvikivi (2010) indicated that cognitive capacity is one of the factors affecting programming achievement. However, Jones and Burnett (2008) claimed that few studies examined the relationship between programming skill and spatial skills. Jones and Burnett (2008) stated that spatial skill is one of those individual differences thought to be related to programming skill.…”

Section: Spatial Skills and Programming Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Jones and Burnett (2008) claimed that few studies examined the relationship between programming skill and spatial skills. Jones and Burnett (2008) stated that spatial skill is one of those individual differences thought to be related to programming skill. Spatial skills are claimed to be a dimension of intelligence, and it is possible to find several skills intermingled in spatial skills.…”

Section: Spatial Skills and Programming Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another component of spatial skills that may be related to programming achievement are mental models. Mental models may be defined as a clear visualization and abstraction of a program in the mind (Jones & Burnett, 2008). Fisher et al (2006) stated that mental model is an abstract representation of the program, consisting of various information emerged as a result of the source code during navigation.…”

Section: Spatial Skills and Programming Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Identifying latent patterns in undergraduate Students’ programming profiles

Altun

Mazman

2015

Smart Learn. Environ.

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This study aims to explore and reveal profiling patterns in the measurement of cognitive and noncognitivecharacteristics of undergraduate students' programming performances. Spatial skills, workingmemory, perceived programming self-efficacy, mathematics scores, and academic grade point averagescores were taken indicative variables to be explored. Participants of the study are 100 undergraduatestudents registered to the Programming-I course at two different universities. The data were analyzedthrough multi-dimensional profile analysis. The result of the multidimensional scaling analysis indicated twodifferent profiles for the two groups: high and low programming performance groups. For both groups,relationship between the most similar variables was found to be verbal memory, mathematics achievementand perceived programming self-efficacy. The results indicated that there was a relatively similarrelationship between visual-spatial memory and spatial orientation skills in the low-performance group,while mental rotation skill was significantly different than the other variables. It was noted that two profiles forhighand low-performance groups were quite different in terms of mental rotation skill. It was also found that spatial orientation, visual-spatial memory and mental rotation performances were all different from eachother, and from the other three variables in the group with high programming performance. The mostdefinitive variables for low-and high-performance groups were self-efficacy, verbal memory andmathematics achievement. This study revealed that only verbal memory was the determinant variable inboth groups for working memory.

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“…12,13 Recent articles link spatial skills to creativity and technical innovation 14 and to success in programming. 15 Adolescent spatial reasoning skills predicted choice of STEM majors and careers above and beyond the effects of verbal and math abilities 16 and spatial ability emerged as a consistent and statistically independent predictor of selecting STEM related courses, graduate study, and other measures of STEM attainment. Thus it is now clear that "spatial ability plays a critical role in developing expertise in STEM…" 16 In fact, nearly fifty years ago, Smith 17 concluded that spatial skills play an important role in 84 different careers.…”

Section: A Spatial Visualization Related To Stem Fieldsmentioning

confidence: 94%