Spatial ability represents our ability to mentally arrange, rotate, and explore objects in multiple dimensions. This ability has been found to be important for engineers and engineering students. Past research has shown that many interventions can be created to boost an individual's spatial ability. In fact, past research has indicated that…

Australia has a long-standing interest in fostering innovation capabilities to drive its future prosperity. However, it has only been in recent years that an emphasis on developing these capabilities has been formally extended into the classroom through the introduction of the Australian Curriculum Technologies. In 2017, the State Government of…

Accumulated evidence indicates that low spatial ability makes a contribution, separate from levels of general or verbal intelligence, to the unlikelihood of students enrolling in, or succeeding in, STEM subjects. Further, there is a tendency for female students not to perform as well as males on some spatial tests, suggesting that this might be…

Prior research has demonstrated a male advantage in spatial skills and science achievement. The present research integrated these findings by testing the potential role of spatial skills in gender differences in the science performance of eighth-grade students (13-15 years old). In "Study 1" (N = 113), the findings showed that mental…

Three-dimensional spatial skills have been shown to be critical to success in engineering and other technological fields. Well-developed 3D spatial skills are particularly important for success in engineering graphics courses. Further, 3D spatial skills of women lag significantly behind those of their male counterparts, which could hinder their…