STEM has been all the rage in the world of education but little attention has been given to an important aptitude that makes people excel in the subjects that fall under STEM – spatial intelligence.
Spatial intelligence includes the cognitive abilities necessary to visualize, rotate, and transform mental images or mental representations of objects and spaces. Spatial skills significantly predict high aptitude in STEM subjects and preference for STEM occupations and there is a significant gender gap in spatial intelligence that begins to develop in American pre-school aged children.
The TEDx talk below provides a comprehensive introduction to the spatial intelligence gap and its likely causes.
One of the most salient points of this talk is that this gender ability gap (and consequently professional presence in STEM) is promoted by our culture. And culture informs everything, including how we design toys and how we attribute gender to play patterns. So if we are to increase female participation in STEM fields, we not only need to re-design workplaces and academic spaces to be more welcoming to these populations, but we need to re-design the informal learning opportunities we present to children through play experiences because early-life play experiences bloom into later-life interests, aspirations, passions, and career choices.
References:
Liu S, Wei W, Chen Y, Hugo P and Zhao J (2021) Visual–Spatial Ability Predicts Academic Achievement Through Arithmetic and Reading Abilities. Front. Psychol. 11:591308. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.591308
Yang W, Liu H, Chen N, Xu P and Lin X (2020) Is Early Spatial Skills Training Effective? A Meta-Analysis. Front. Psychol. 11:1938. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01938
2 responses to “The Spatial Intelligence Gap and What Toy Design Can Do to Close It”
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The topic of your post is new to me: spatial intelligence and how it affects STEM subjects and preference for its occupation. Spatial skill influences STEM subjects and preference for STEM occupation, but there is a gender gap based on the culture of the play experiences. Through your post, I thought of the differences between how boys and girls were playing back then. In my childhood, I was playing with a Barbie doll and customized the clothes for the dolls, whereas my brother was playing computer games and trying to read codes. Even though it is unrelated to STEM, the gender gap happened in playing in the past and is still happening now. I strongly agree with your point. Also, the solution of re-designing the academic space for providing learning experiences is an excellent idea for giving students various career choices. It was great to visit your post and have a new idea about playing!
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[I initially posted this comment under the previous post but commenting is enabled now for this post so I’m reposting this here. :)]
Hi Danielle, this is a really interesting post about the connection between STEM education and spatial intelligence. I used to teach at a school for the blind and had two colleagues who taught math who were blind. I was fascinated by the way they explained mathematical concepts to students who were totally blind, including students who were totally blind since birth. Since blindness is a spectrum, the classes had a mix of students who could perceive very little light (could maybe tell if the lights were on vs. off) to students with low vision (who used large-text books and handouts). Teaching math in this context required I think particular pedagogical skill especially in regards to how each student perceived and understood space. Thanks for sharing this post!
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