Spatial thinking in STEM learning: Training a new generation of researchers to increase enrolment and gender balance in STEM learning by addressing deficits in spatial ability among children in Europe

Project Information

SellSTEM

Grant agreement ID: 956124

DOI

10.3030/956124

Project closed

EC signature date 13 August 2020

Start date 1 January 2021

End date 31 December 2024

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 4 037 154,48

EU contribution

€ 4 037 154,48

Coordinated by

TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY DUBLIN
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SellSTEM (Spatial thinking in STEM learning: Training a new generation of researchers to increase enrolment and gender balance in STEM learning by addressing deficits in spatial ability among children in Europe)

Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

For Europe to achieve its agenda for growth and jobs, more young people need to enrol in STEM course. Fresh thinking is required about how to promote STEM education and careers. Research has shown spatial ability to be strongly associated with success in STEM learning and a significant gender gap in spatial ability in favour of males . Spatial ability is a core aspect of intelligence yet across Europe many young people fail to develop spatial ability to a level that allows them to engage successfully with STEM learning and this group is over-represented by girls . Raising spatial ability levels of young people, and girls in particular, will positively impact on their ability to engage with the cognitive demands of STEM learning, improve their confidence and self-efficacy in STEM and lead to increased enrolment in STEM education and careers.
SellSTEM is an interdisciplinary, international and intersectoral network researching how to measure spatial ability across childhood, its relationship to learning and career choice and how to raise spatial ability levels of boys and especially girls, and it will transfer this research into practice through engagement with teachers, teacher educators and policy makers. By training 15 ESRs, SellSTEM will achieve the following objectives (RO):
1. Investigate how cognitive development in childhood relates to STEM learning by gender and socioeconomic status (SES) and how spatial ability interacts with affective and academic measures relevant to STEM at different stages of development,
2. Investigate ways to develop spatial ability that can be implemented in the classroom and lead to greater cognitive preparedness for STEM learning by young people, especially girls,
3. Investigate barriers and enablers faced by teachers when developing spatial ability in the classroom,
4. Engage with key stakeholders – policy makers, curriculum designers, teachers, teacher educators, STEM industry - to assess existing policy, raise awareness of the need for spatial ability development, and make recommendations for future.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The SellSTEM management structure is fully operational. All ESR positions were filled by Nov 2021 and no ESRs have resigned from the project to date.
In WP3, Cognition, approximately 70 of a planned 120 participants from five- and six-year-old children have completed an adapted implicit association test designed to measure associations between gender and toys used in spatial play. Data are currently being collected from kindergarten children by ESR3, while still recruiting from more kindergartens as well as inviting interested parents to lab sessions. As of now, n=43 full data sets have been obtained. ESR4 has collected data from 6 classes (approximately 126 participants) which amounts to 24 hours of audio recording, has transcribed 7 hours of recordings and has started to analyse these data.
In WP4, the RIF 3.0 platform, used by thousands of school children in Austria and Germany, to practice and develop a range of spatial tasks, is being expanded. Results show gender differences in some categories, which helped design the main research of the project. A study investigated the role of working memory and strategies used in the relation between spatial and math abilities. In DBL, two case studies are complete: (i) a spatially challenging biomimicry design project and (ii) a data visualization and physicalization design activity In, STEM outreach, a guide was developed with instructions for children.
In WP5, a pilot study was conducted with 9 teachers in 5 school followed by a larger study with 50 teachers in 20 schools across Ireland on how to deliver a program on Developing Spatial Ability. ESR12 is exploring why some countries outperform others on tests of spatial ability, issues related to the formal embedding in the school curriculum of greater attention to spatial ability development. ESR13 is working with teachers on implementing DBL in the classroom for children aged 4 to 7. Lesson study in STEAM projects to promote spatial ability development is being investigated for pre-service student teachers.
Presentations of SellSTEM work have been made at 19 conferences and symposia and 6 journal publications have been submitted. Many teachers, children and parents have been reached through a range of communication activities

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

WP3 will provide evidence regarding the early emergence (age 5 to 6) of stereotyping related to SA and the role of working memory in mental rotation and a better understanding of how spatial ability is related to stereotyping, emotional regulation, math and spatial anxiety, and career choice. New knowledge will be created about how spatial language scaffolds spatial cognition development in young children. The relative contribution of nature and nurture to spatial ability development will be evaluated to highlight aspects of spatial ability and spatial language that are most sensitive to development through nurture, at home as well as in school. Data will be collected from several countries in Europe to examine how spatial ability interacts with STEM self-efficacy, subject choice preference and working memory development.
Gender differences in the 9 subcategories of spatial thinking will be measured through the RIF 3.0 platform. Findings will be used to examine how learning with feedback has the potential to reduce gender differences in spatial ability. Transfer to gains in mathematical skills will be measured. The underlying mechanism, especially the role of working memory, between spatial ability and math performance will be defined in a new way. A training program will be developed to help children improve their spatial ability and math performance. DBL case studies will lead to a framework of desired practices that challenge and scaffold spatial skills development in design and STEAM education. In STEM Outreach, a greater understanding will be developed about the role spatial ability level can play in the enjoyment of STEM outreach activities, and the role STEM outreach can play in training spatial ability.
In WP5, approaches to delivering a spatial course, and how these approaches connect to student success will be evaluated to yield better results. From the curriculum perspective, we expect to see that (1) various involvement of spatial training in the national curriculum could lead to various spatial ability of primary school students, and (2) best practice in Europe will be highlighted. Integrating spatial ability development with DBL will open up a new line of research. An understanding of how pre-service teachers can engage with this approach and how to support them to successfully enact spatialized inquiry corners in their classrooms will be developed. A framework of preschool teacher PD through lesson study to improve teacher approaches to spatial ability development will sustain the 'spatialization' of early childhood classrooms by creating a Community of Practice (CoP) of teachers using Lesson Study for story-based hands-on design tasks. WP5 will test and develop maker activities that promote spatial ability development and will provide these in the form of an intervention that can be followed by maker coaches, including librarians.

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