Overview• Spatial intelligence and learning are important in

scientific thought and communication• Spatial intelligence and learning can be improved• Specific educational techniques to foster spatial

intelligence are within our graspOne specific technique:

Teachers in middle and high school should teach diagram reading skills

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Scientific Thought and Communication

Predicting Occupations from High School Spatial Ability

Wai, Lubinski & Benbow (2009)

Standardized Score

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New Meta-Analysis Supports Malleability

• Large training effects, as well as durability and transfer– Uttal, Meadow, Hand, Lewis, Warren, & Newcombe, Psychological

Bulletin, in press

Putting These Two Analyses Together

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Learning from VisualizationsLearning from Visualizations

• Two strategies– Modify the learner– Modify the learning materials

• Supported by meta-analysis (Hoffler, 2010, Ed. Psych. Review)– spatial ability plays an important role in learning from

visualizations (mean effect size r  = 0.34), but is moderated by—at least—two compensating factors; learners with low spatial ability can be significantly supported by a dynamic visualization as well as a 3d-visualization.

• Textbooks are full of diagrams, graphs, photographs, etc. which are meant to add crucial information to the written text

• Students often ignore them or do not know how to interpret them effectively

• Conventions are often implicit or not clearly indicated

• Visualization activities help students attend to and interpret different image types, relative scale & magnification, perspective, use of color & other conventions, captions, etc.

Visualizations

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VisualizationsStudents are unable to follow the arrows, captions and labels in complex diagramsHegarty, Kriz, & Cate, 2003

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Visualizations• When students do not understand the diagrams they

can come away with misconceptions• They might then skip diagrams to avoid further

frustration– Bartholome & Bromme, 2009

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Visualizations are common in the classroom…

• In American 8th grade classrooms diagrams are used at least once in 52% of lessons and concept maps in 46% of lessons. In 21% of all lessons observed, students made their own diagrams (K. J. Roth et al., 2006).

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… and visualizations are common in textbooks

• Middle school through undergraduate textbooks have >1 image per page, average1-4 features per image such as captions, labels, arrows, abbreviations, etc. (Cromley, Snyder & Luciw)

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Visualizations are often complex…

Diagram versus real image

Labeling Captions Relative scale

and magnification

Colors Cut-away

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Conventions of Diagrams

• Developing curriculum for teaching diagrammatic reasoning based on four different interventions– Conventions of diagrams (COD)– Coordinating text and diagrams (CTD)– Self-explanation (SE)– Student-constructed diagrams (SCD)

Can We Teach HS Biology Students to Can We Teach HS Biology Students to Reason Better with Diagrams?Reason Better with Diagrams?

COD: Posttest Diagrammatic Reasoning

•Beginning of year achievement as covariate•Significant time * treatment interaction•d =.8 treatment, .2 control

• Workbook students increase time spent looking at the diagram, significantly more so than Demonstration students

• Workbook students maintain time spent on naming and explanatory labels, whereas Demonstration students show significant decrease

Changes in Eye Tracking

Further Improvements?Cromley, Bergey, Fitzhugh, Newcombe, Wills, Shipley, and Tanaka (under Cromley, Bergey, Fitzhugh, Newcombe, Wills, Shipley, and Tanaka (under

review)review)

• We compared – Self-Explanation– Student-Completed Figures—Visual – Student-Completed Figures—Verbal

• Assessed effects (pre- to posttest) on – Biology knowledge – Biology diagram comprehension—literal– Biology diagram comprehension—inferential– Geoscience diagram comprehension

• Teacher-delivered in 9th grade biology classes

Self-Explanation

Eu-Squeak-a! If there are four off-spring, there will be one of each combination. But what will the fifth one be like?

Eu-Squeak-a! If there are four off-spring, there will be one of each combination. But what will the fifth one be like?

Student Completed Figures-Verbal

Student Completed Figures-Visual

Results: Biology Diagrams

d = 0.30* d = 0.32* d = 0.22*

Results: Biology Knowledge

d = 0.63* d = 0.04 d = 0.68*

Results: Geoscience Diagrams

d = 0.37* d ~ 0 d = 0.28*

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Questions?Questions?