SPATIAL LEARNING TO INCREASE STEM ACHIEVEMENT
Learn about the major discoveries this scientist has made on spatial development and spatial cognition and the implications they have on prek-12 educational design, college teaching, and policy! Abstract: Much mathematical and scientific thinking is spatial in nature, and even non-spatial information is often communicated using maps, diagrams, graphs, analogies and other forms of spatial communication. Students’ spatial skills are correlated with their success in learning science, both concurrently and predictively. In addition, we know that spatial skills are malleable. So, can spatial thinking be used to improve math and science education? This talk reviews two ways in which we might proceed. Strategy 1 is to enhance students’ spatial skills early in life, or at least prior to instruction. Strategy 2 is to make more effective use of spatial teaching techniques that allow for spatial as well as verbal learning, even by students with weaker spatial skills. Recent evidence suggests optimism about both approaches. Nora S. Newcombe, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at Temple University and PI of the Spatial Intelligence and Learning Center (SILC). She was educated at Antioch College, where she graduated with a major in psychology in 1972; and at Harvard University, where she received her Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Relations in 1976. She taught previously at Penn State University. Dr. Newcombe has received honors including the William James Fellow Award from APS and the George Miller Award and the G. Stanley Hall Awards from APA, the Award for Distinguished Service to Psychological Science, also from APA, and the Women in Cognitive Science Mentor Award.Dr. Newcome is also a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Newcombe has been honored with Visiting Professorships at the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, Germany. Dr. Newcombe is the author of many publications. She has also served as Editor of Journal of Experimental Psychology: General and as Associate Editor of Psychological Bulletin as well as on numerous editorial boards and grant review panels. She is currently an Associate Editor for Cognitive Psychology and for WIRES in Cognitive Science. Dr. Newcombe's major contributions to pioneering science and Educational Neuroscience involves her discoveries about spatial development and spatial cognition, including individual differences in spatial ability, spatial thinking in PK-12 education and college teaching, and the development of episodic and autobiographical memory.
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