Collaborative Research: Cognitive and Neural Indicators of School-based Improvements in Spatial Problem Solving

合作研究：校本空间问题解决能力改进的认知和神经指标

• 批准号: 1420599
• 负责人: David Uttal
• 金额: $ 42.76万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1420599&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Cognitive; Neural; Indicators

This project, to be conducted by James Madison University, Georgetown University, and Northwestern University, will examine learning spatial thinking skills by high school students (who are studying geoscience), looking at educational outcomes as well as behavioral and neurological measures. There is already considerable evidence linking spatial ability and future STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) attainment. The project will focus on a high school course, the Geospatial Semester, that is designed to improve spatial thinking. The project will look for changes in patterns of brain activity as a result of the course, as well as relations among the educational, behavioral, and neurological measures. Prior research indicates that spatial training in the laboratory may reduce gender differences in performance; this project will seek to measure this effect in real world high school spatial learning, and to identify neural mechanisms that help explain how and why the gender gap closes. This project will advance the work of the EHR (Education & Human Resources) Directorate in studying the cognitive and neural basis of STEM learning.The overall goal of the project is to develop a mechanistic theory of change for spatial STEM education at the behavioral and neural levels. To achieve this goal, the project will measure a combination of outcomes: educational (e.g., coursework), behavioral (e.g., core spatial ability on standard tests of mental rotation and embedded figure identification, use of spatial language), and neurological (e.g., neural efficiency and grey matter volume in brain regions that support spatial thinking ability, interconnectivity networks across brain regions). Students in the spatially-based Geospatial Semester will be compared to peers receiving standard (non-spatially-based) STEM education in other advanced science courses. Neurological measures will be obtained by functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging performed at pre- and post-test time points. In general, the project will address the issue of brain plasticity in a high school STEM education context. The project will use machine learning techniques to discern neurological effects of spatial learning in both hypothesis-driven and data-driven ways, and examine gender differences in the effect of spatial STEM learning on cognition and the brain. Analyses will focus on relating changes across neural, behavioral, and educational levels toward an integrated understanding of the mechanisms that make spatial STEM learning effective.

该项目由詹姆斯·麦迪逊大学，乔治敦大学和西北大学进行，将研究高中生（正在研究地球科学）的学习空间思维技能，研究教育成果以及行为和神经系统措施。 已经有大量证据将空间能力和未来的STEM（科学，技术，工程和数学）成就联系起来。 该项目将集中于高中课程，即地理空间学期，旨在改善空间思维。 该项目将寻找由于课程的导致大脑活动模式的变化，以及教育，行为和神经系统措施之间的关系。 先前的研究表明，实验室的空间培训可能会降低性别差异。该项目将寻求在现实世界中的高中空间学习中衡量这种效果，并确定有助于解释性别差距结束的神经机制。 该项目将推进EHR（教育与人力资源）局在研究STEM学习的认知和神经基础方面的工作。该项目的总体目标是开发一种在行为和神经层面上为空间STEM教育变化的机械理论。 为了实现这一目标，该项目将衡量结果的结合：教育（例如，课程），行为（例如，在精神旋转的标准测试和嵌入式图形识别，使用空间语言的使用）和神经系统（例如，在大脑区域中，大脑思维能力网络中的核心效率和灰色物质，互助网络的神经效率和灰色物质）。 将基于空间的地理空间学期的学生与其他高级科学课程中接受标准（非空间）STEM教育的同龄人进行比较。 神经系统措施将通过在测试前和测试后时间点进行的功能和结构磁共振成像获得。 通常，该项目将在高中STEM教育环境中解决大脑可塑性问题。 该项目将使用机器学习技术来辨别假设驱动和数据驱动方式的空间学习的神经系统效应，并检查空间茎学习对认知和大脑的影响的性别差异。 分析将着重于将神经，行为和教育水平的变化与对使空间STEM学习有效的机制的综合理解联系起来。