TY - GEN
T1 - Spatial ability for university biology education
AU - Castro-Alonso, Juan C.
AU - Uttal, David H.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments. Funding from PIA–CONICYT Basal Funds for Centers of Excellence, Project FB0003 is gratefully acknowledged by the first author. Also, this research was supported by the Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (National Science Foundation Grant SBE0541957) to the second author. We are thankful to Mariana Poblete and Monserratt Ibáñez for their assistance.
Publisher Copyright:
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Studying and pursuing careers of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields demand spatial ability. Completing a university degree in biology is no exception. The aim of this study is to summarize key findings showing that there is a two-way relation between university biology education and spatial ability. The first aspect of this relation is the most investigated: spatial ability facilitates learning biology. However, the other aspect is also possible: learning biology may improve spatial ability. We present empirical evidence to support both possibilities. The focus is on university biology, and the spatial abilities of mental rotation and mental folding (spatial visualization). We present findings showing that these spatial abilities affect university biology learning and achievement from textual and visual materials. We also present correlational studies and experiments showing that university biology learning positively affects mental rotation and mental folding.
AB - Studying and pursuing careers of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields demand spatial ability. Completing a university degree in biology is no exception. The aim of this study is to summarize key findings showing that there is a two-way relation between university biology education and spatial ability. The first aspect of this relation is the most investigated: spatial ability facilitates learning biology. However, the other aspect is also possible: learning biology may improve spatial ability. We present empirical evidence to support both possibilities. The focus is on university biology, and the spatial abilities of mental rotation and mental folding (spatial visualization). We present findings showing that these spatial abilities affect university biology learning and achievement from textual and visual materials. We also present correlational studies and experiments showing that university biology learning positively affects mental rotation and mental folding.
KW - Biology
KW - Mental folding and spatial visualization
KW - Mental rotation
KW - Spatial ability
KW - STEM
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049626832&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-93882-0_28
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-93882-0_28
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85049626832
SN - 9783319938813
T3 - Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing
SP - 283
EP - 291
BT - Advances in Human Factors in Training, Education, and Learning Sciences - Proceedings of the AHFE 2018 International Conference on Human Factors in Training, Education, and Learning Sciences, 2018
A2 - Polak-Sopinska, Aleksandra
A2 - Nazir, Salman
A2 - Teperi, Anna-Maria
PB - Springer
CY - London
T2 - AHFE International Conference on Human Factors in Training, Education, and Learning Sciences, 2018
Y2 - 21 July 2018 through 25 July 2018
ER -