SPATIAL STEM+C: USING SPATIAL REASONING TRAINING IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES TO IMPROVE COMPUTATIONAL THINKING, MATHEMATICAL PERFORMANCE, AND EDUCATIONAL JUSTICE OUTCOMES

In this presentation, we will describe instructional activities and assessments being developed and evaluated for K-5 students by the National Science Foundation-funded Spatial STEM+C project. Initiated in November, 2015, the Spatial STEM+C project addresses a significant challenge in preparing elementary-aged children to enter the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce in coming decades: developing visuospatial and computational skills that underlie success in gatekeeping high school and college STEM courses. Visuospatial skills have been documented to vary by gender and may be influenced by an opportunity gap created by socioeconomic factors. By developing instructional and assessment strategies that are effective across socioeconomic categories and work particularly well for subcategories of students who have been found to lag behind in visuospatial abilities at key grade levels, Spatial STEM+C is applying educational justice theory to help children achieve equal access to quality instruction, resources, and other educational opportunities.

The goal of the Spatial STEM+C project is to iteratively develop and evaluate supplemental instructional activities that build early computational skills in elementary-aged children. The project is attempting to accomplish this goal by improving children’s innate capacities for spatial thinking. Formative evaluation conclusions from the curriculum development process and research findings from a comparison-group study will be used to refine the activities into a format that can be integrated into formal instruction at a partnering school district, disseminated and evaluated nationally, and built into in-service and pre-service teacher education programs at the University of Redlands in California.

Described in this presentation will be the results of pilot testing at Lugonia Elementary School in Redlands, California, and Inland Leaders Charter School in Yucaipa, California. Plans for the comparison-group study to be conducted at Inland Leaders Charter School in project year 2 will also be outlined, as well as implications for geoscience education in the higher grades.