CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING, SPATIAL ABILITIES, AND CONTENT TEST SUCCESS

Is the presence of misconceptions, or is spatial ability, related to Earth Science content test scores? This question was investigated with future elementary/middle (E/M) teachers. Research shows that elementary teachers often exhibit Earth science misconceptions, do poorly on spatial ability tests, and often avoid teaching science. It is vital that E/M teachers give future scientists and citizens a good start, and help address fears that the U.S. will fall behind in science.

Spatial ability is known to be related to success in science. Traditional education, however, has offered little help in improving spatial skills. Studies show that many misconceptions are difficult to change. Earlier research showed a significant positive relationship between scores on three types of spatial ability with scores on an Earth science conceptual understanding test, the ESC, that includes both misconceptions and broader conceptual problems. Also, several individual topics on the ESC were correlated to individual spatial ability scores.

This research investigated the relationship between ESC scores, mental rotation scores and class content test scores of students in an Earth science for Teachers content course. Activities that featured spatial relationships were incorporated into the course over two years of testing. Hands-on and whole-body activities stressed 2D-3D relationships, scale, angles, models, and varying points of view. Common misconceptions were directly addressed.

The 124 subjects were administered the concept and spatial tests both the first and last days of the course. The composite content test scores included five exams and two lab practicals. Content tests did not contain material dirctly from the spatial tests or conceptual understanding tests.

Results showed significant correlations of ESC scores at both the beginning and end of the semester with class content scores, and significant correlations of mental rotation scores at both the beginning and end of the semester with class content scores. Both ESC and mental rotation scores improved, but improvement was greater in conceptual understanding. Ending ESC scores were most highly correlated with class content scores. Results support the importance of spatial relationships as a factor in designing Earth science curricula, and the importance of addressing conceptual difficulties.