We previously observed students gesturing during a symmetry and group theory activity. This prompted additional interviews, wherein we attempted to understand the semiotic function of these gestures. We report here on the gestures that students used in this context to represent symmetry elements, symmetry operations, and other related ideas. In…

Background: The importance of spatial abilities for individuals' success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains has been well established. Researchers have also emphasized the need to train engineering students in spatial ability. Although virtual reality (VR) offers prospects for training spatial abilities, research…

Spatial skills can predict mathematics performance, with many researchers investigating how and why these skills are related. However, a literature review on spatial ability revealed a multiplicity of spatial taxonomies and analytical frameworks that lack convergence, presenting a confusing terrain for researchers to navigate. We expose two…

We talk about our spatial thinking skills all the time, maybe without knowing that there is an entire domain of cognitive skills that connect these observations. Educators can also recognize these skills in our students. These include students who seem to have an intuitive understanding of computer-aided design and create complex and efficient 3-D…

Working memory is a hot topic in the field of cognitive neuroscience and has attracted the attention of many researchers in the field of education. In recent years, it has been found that the cognitive ability related to spatial information in working memory can positively affect STEM academic performance, which is highly important for educational…

There is growing consensus that selection history strongly guides spatial attention and is distinct from current goals and physical salience. Here, we focused on target-location probability cueing: when the target is more likely to appear in one region, search performance gradually improves for targets appearing in that region. Probability cueing…

Spatial thinking is ubiquitous in design. Design education across all age groups encompasses a range of spatially challenging activities, such as forming and modifying mental representations of ideas, and visualizing the scenarios of design prototypes being used. While extensive research has examined the cognitive processes of spatial thinking and…

Students' talent and potential cannot be served until they are recognized by schools or caregivers. While the field of gifted education has had success in identifying many students with talents in reading and mathematics, those with spatial talents are often overlooked. This article reviews how we might identify spatial talent using traditional…

Temporal seeing is a mode of visual perception that interrupts the spatial bias we bring to visual literacy practices. Although an image only captures one moment in time, there are multiple spatioanalytical tools we can use to consider any image. Spatial literacy, which is the practice of analyzing objects through their properties in space, tends…

Spatial construction--the activity of creating novel spatial arrangements or copying existing ones--is a hallmark of human spatial cognition. Spatial construction abilities predict math and other academic outcomes and are regularly used in IQ testing, but we know little about the cognitive processes that underlie them. In part, this lack of…

External representations powerfully support and augment complex human behavior. When navigating, people often consult external representations to help them find the way to go, but do maps or verbal instructions improve spatial knowledge or support effective wayfinding? Here, we examine spatial knowledge with and without external representations in…

Traditionally, informative speeches are relegated to be passive. The classic scope of informative speeches does not consider "live" or "lived" rhetoric. After teaching public speaking for most of my career, there are times when one needs to reinvigorate assignments. This assignment challenges how we utilize memory and place to…

Ensemble Thinking (ET) is a toolkit of movement scores developed by dance-maker Nina Martin in the 1980s in New York City. The scores of ET arose out of a confluence of Martin's choreographic and improvisational performance practices. The impetus for developing ET was to develop a technical language for creating and discussing improvised dance.…

The human eye scans visual information through scan paths, series of fixations. Analogous to these scan paths during the process of actual "seeing," we investigated whether similar scan paths are also observed while subjects are "rehearsing" stimuli in visuospatial working memory. Participants performed a continuous recall task…

Decades of research point to the value and importance of spatial skills and have demonstrated the malleability, durability, and teachability of spatial skills across the lifespan. Teachers and caregivers can apply this research in their classrooms or homes through a wide range of strategies. In this article, we offer specific, engaging activities…