Hi Karen! Thank you for watching our video! We do pre and post-testing using the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test of Rotations to measure spatial visualization skills before and after using the Spatial Vis software. We also do surveys and interviews of students. Lastly, we capture all of the student sketching attempts and the feedback they receive from the software. With this information, we can see if the personalized feedback influenced the students’ next attempt.

We agree! Thanks for watching!

Hi Nidaa! Thank you for your comment. The at-risk group was defined as scoring below 70% on the spatial visualization test. The study with a control group was smaller with 23 students in the experiment group and 22 in the control. We have done other studies with larger groups (100+ students) where we had students do a pre-test, then use Spatial Vis, and take a post-test. 85% of the students who failed the pre-test later passed the post-test after using Spatial Vis. Those students had an average test score increase of 33%. However, this was not using a control. More information about the study and other studies can be found here: https://egrove.education/results

Hi Stefani! Sure! We started with a simple "Incorrect" and "Correct". As the project expanded and we received more student surveys, interviews, and sketching data we were able to identify common mistakes and frustrations about the software. We started by targeting the most frustrating aspects. For instance, if a student's sketch was too messy it would fail. This was frustrating because students did not understand why they were incorrect and did not realize how close to the solution they were. We now will tell them they are close and they need to clean up some of their lines. We have since expanded this feedback to identify other common mistakes and our feedback will continue to grow as our users do!

Thank you for watching our video. We believe it is a combination of students having an increased sense of self-efficacy and therefore a feeling that they belong in STEM, which is due to the fact that they are now able to visualize and understand the challenging 3D concepts they are learning much more easily.

Hi Scott! Thanks for watching our video. The informal STEM space is an area we would like to support in the next couple of years! We would love advice about how to get into some informal learning spaces. 

The software does not have a free drawing component to it, but students claim that going through the assignments and learning the skill has helped them with their design and CAD courses as well as calculus and physics.

Beyond Legos, other informal STEM learning experiences that would help with spatial visualization would be hand sketching on paper, origami activities, 3D video games like Minecraft, and more! A recent study just came out that even mentioned team sports contributing to spatial skills.

Very cool, Lizzy. I agree, there's lots of potential in the informal STEM education space for this work. If you haven't already, you might want to start by exploring projects and research catalogued by the Center for the Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE). The ways that adults and children explore mathematics, including spacial reasoning, outside of school is so rich. My colleagues and I did a quick review of some of the literature a few years ago. I'm really intrigued by how individuals might use your software and resources for pragmatic goals in their daily lives, how that use would differ from what you see in a classroom, and how it might enrich not only people's spatial reasoning but also their ideas about themselves as mathematical thinkers. Good luck with your ongoing work!

Thank you so much for the information!

Hi Amy! Thank you for your interest in Spatial Vis! Please fill out the linked form and I will send you a free account: https://egrove.education/request-instructor-access

We provide the software for free to instructors so that they can evaluate the material, however, we do charge for classroom use. This project was supported by the NSF Small Business Innovation Research program so we were able to create a company with the Spatial Vis software being our flagship product. We have had over 15,000 students use the software. Our dissemination strategies include: tabling at conferences, doing workshops at conferences and in our local communities, continuing research and publishing, as well as offering free professional development courses to instructors.

Thanks for sharing this link. I just wanted to see it "in action." That makes sense that you have to charge for classroom use, consistent with what would be expected of products developed under the SBIR program. Thank you for this innovation that is making a difference for students! I appreciate how you seem to be intentionally disseminating this to diverse audiences as well.

Spatial visualization training has been directly tied to improving Math performance in K-12. Content such as areas and volumes of shapes directly relates to spatial visualization. Also, topics such as fractions and representation of a portion of a whole, addition, subtraction, and multiplication often use visual representations and require sketching. I would be happy to point you to some of the articles in this area. Your work on tying basic skills to technical skills would be great application. I believe that spatial visualization can help with mechanical aptitude as well as required technical skills such as reading blueprints.

Hi Nathan, Lelli, and Lizzy --

I LOVE your work! (Big hello to Lelli.) I would love to love to explore fractions and early visualizations for math/spatial reasoning with your team. I will reach out to Lelli. :)

Nice job on the video and the entire project. 

Indeed we have worked with younger children and have a Spatial Kids sketching app in the works. We did do a study comparing the Spatial Vis App to an Augmented Reality Spatial Visualization training tool at the college level. We like that sketching requires active student engagement and would be looking for similar level of active engagement with a VR application.