Background: Spatial skills and mathematical ability have been repeatedly identified as critical for achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Previous studies have identified correlations between spatial skills and mathematical achievement; however, questions remain regarding improvements in non-spatial areas associated with STEM achievement. The current study examined whether competency in spatial skills could be related to individuals' motivation for mathematics. Measures of spatial skills and mathematics motivation were completed by 1056 seventh grade students. Results: Using hierarchical linear modeling, spatial skills and math motivation were examined relative to students' performance on a state standardized mathematics subtest. Results indicate that spatial skills and motivation interact to significantly predict students' mathematics performance. Conclusions: These results suggest that spatial skills in combination with motivation play a significant role in middle school students' mathematics achievement.

Background: Spatial skills and mathematical ability have been repeatedly identified as criticalfor achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Previous studies have identified correlations between spatial skills and mathematical achievement; however, questions remain regarding improvements in non-spatial areas associated with STEM achievement. The current study examined whether competency in spatial skills could be related to individuals’ motivation for mathematics. Measures of spatial skills and mathematics motivation were completed by 1,056 seventh grade students.Results: Using hierarchical linear modeling, spatial skills and math motivation were examined relative to students’ performance on a state standardized mathematics subtest. Results indicate that spatial skills and motivation interact to significantly predict students’ mathematics performance.Conclusions: These results suggest that spatial skills in combination with motivation play a significant role in middle school students’ mathematics achievement.

Geospatial technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and GPS have been used in a variety of educational settings to help improve student learning. A sample of 53 high school seniors was recruited from the Geospatial Semester (GSS), a course that emphasizes the use of GIS for problem-solving and students in AP Physics and AP History served as a comparison. GSS students' spatial thinking and problem solving improved across the school year in contrast to Comparison Group. Results suggest that GIS-based instruction can be used to enhance students' use of spatial reasoning when solving STEM-relevant problems.

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To use a symbol, children must understand that the symbol stands for something in the world. This development has often been investigated in the model-room task (DeLoache, 1987, 2000) in which children use a scale model to try to find a toy that is hidden in the room that the model represents. To succeed, children must acquire dual representation: they must put aside their understanding of the model as an object and focus more on what the model represents (Hartstein & Berthier, 2017). Here we suggest that forgetting irrelevant details or misleading information may be an important part of acquiring and maintaining dual representation. Based on prior research showing that forgetting can promote insight in children and adults (e.g., Sio & Ormerod, 2009; Vlach et al., 2014) and that a small sample of 3-year-olds could improve on the model-room task with a delay (Marzolf & DeLoache, 1994), we hypothesized that taking a break during the model-room task would facilitate forgetting and hence symbolic insight. Eighty-eight 3-year-olds performed 8 trials of the model-room task. Half of the children received a 24-hour delay after trial 4 and half performed the 8 trials consecutively. Children who received a 24-hour delay had better symbolic performance on the last 4 trials compared to children whose testing sessions occurred consecutively on one day, even when statistically controlling for the effects of learning over trials and memory on children’s performance. This study provides strong initial evidence that a delay can promote symbolic insight in 3-year-old children.