Collaborative research: Neural and cognitive strengthening of conceptual knowledge and reasoning in classroom-based spatial education

合作研究：基于课堂的空间教育中概念知识和推理的神经和认知强化

• 批准号: 1661089
• 负责人: David Uttal
• 金额: $ 19.31万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-04-15 至 2020-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1661089&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; research; Neural; cognitive; strengthening

Spatial thinking is a powerful driver of success in the STEM classroom and spatial thinking is a major predictor of future STEM success in the workforce. The brain systems that support spatial thinking have been well mapped by neuroscience to allow clear interpretation of new brain-imaging data. Recent advances in tools used to analyze brain activity allow detection of changes in the brains of students that signify accurate learning of STEM concepts. This advance may open a window onto biomarkers of precisely the type of learning that is the goal of educators. Using these new brain analysis methods, this project, a collaboration involving researchers from James Madison University, Georgetown University, Northwestern University, and Dartmouth College, will investigate how changes in the spatial thinking network support learning of specific STEM concepts, and how changes in the classroom can facilitate changes in the brain related to spatial thinking. This cross-disciplinary project brings together experts in geoscience classroom education, spatial cognition, and the neural bases of learning and reasoning. This team is committed to bridging the conspicuous gap between the laboratory and the high school classroom. A confluence of advances in neuroimaging, and the research team's partnership with Virginia school systems make this effort timely and tractable. Identifying possible effects of sex and STEM-related anxieties on conceptual learning in the brain, and testing the effectiveness of spatial education for reducing disparities, this research will point to critical targets for intervention. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning.This project seeks to understand the neural mechanisms of spatial learning, to advance of spatial education, and to identify factors that affect disparities in STEM learning and participation. The research team will collect functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral data from students before and after learning in a high school geoscience course that uses a novel spatially-based curriculum to teach STEM concepts and spatial reasoning. Pilot data on this spatial curriculum have begun to characterize the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms at work, and show promising effects of transfer to STEM problem solving and core measures of spatial ability. Consistent with methods that have demonstrated success in the lab (but not yet the classroom), the research team will use multivariate neural representations of a group of highly experienced and specially trained teachers as an expert standard to determine neural markers of students? conceptual knowledge and spatial reasoning. Leveraging recent multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) and machine-learning advances in brain imaging, the team will compare the neural patterns of students before and after learning to test for a trajectory that moves students closer to expert representations. This project will also test, for the first time, whether it is possible to compare different curricula based on how much they strengthen the representation of a concept in the brain. Similarly, this work will test whether spatial education leads students to engage spatial brain resources for STEM-related reasoning, and seek to compare curricula on this basis. The project will test whether neural data add predictive value to traditional testing (e.g. conventional unit tests) for subsequent retention of conceptual knowledge and spatial reasoning. Assessments of STEM-related anxieties (e.g., math and spatial anxiety) and analyses of sex-related effects on cognitive and neural outcomes will newly characterize factors that influence disparities in STEM learning and participation.

空间思维是STEM课堂上成功的有力驱动力，空间思维是劳动力中未来STEM成功的主要预测指标。神经科学的大脑系统已通过神经科学进行了很好的映射，可以清楚地解释新的大脑成像数据。用于分析大脑活动的工具的最新进展允许检测学生大脑的变化，这些变化表明了对STEM概念的准确学习。这一进步可能打开了恰恰是教育工作者目标的生物标志物的窗口。使用这些新的大脑分析方法，该项目是詹姆斯·麦迪逊大学，乔治敦大学，西北大学和达特茅斯学院的研究人员的合作，将调查空间思维网络中的变化如何支持特定STEM概念的学习，以及课堂上的变化如何促进与空间思维相关的大脑变化。这个跨学科项目汇集了地球科学课堂教育，空间认知以及学习和推理的神经基础的专家。该团队致力于弥合实验室和高中教室之间的明显差距。神经影像学进步的融合以及研究团队与弗吉尼亚学校系统的合作伙伴关系使这项努力及时且可进行。确定性别和与STEM相关的焦虑对大脑概念学习的可能影响，并测试空间教育对降低差异的有效性，这项研究将指出干预的关键目标。该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）计划资助，该计划支持有关STEM学习的基本研究文献的发展。该项目旨在了解空间学习的神经机制，以推动空间教育的发展，并确定影响STEM学习和参与障碍差异的因素。研究团队将在高中地球科学课程中学习和之后的学生收集功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）和行为数据，该课程使用新颖的基于空间的课程来教授STEM概念和空间推理。有关该空间课程的试验数据已经开始表征工作中的基本认知和神经机制，并显示出向茎问题解决方案转移和空间能力的核心测量的有希望的影响。与在实验室中表现出成功的方法一致（但尚未在课堂上），研究团队将使用一组经验丰富且受过专门培训的教师的多元神经表示作为确定学生神经标记的专家标准？概念知识和空间推理。利用最近的多元模式分析（MVPA）和机器学习进展，团队将比较学习测试在学习轨迹之前和之后的学生的神经模式，该轨迹使学生更接近专家表示。该项目还将首次测试是否可以根据他们加强大脑中概念的表示程度来比较不同的课程。同样，这项工作将测试空间教育是否会导致学生参与与STEM相关推理的空间大脑资源，并试图在此基础上比较课程。该项目将测试神经数据是否为传统测试（例如常规单位测试）增加预测价值，以保留概念知识和空间推理。评估与STEM相关的焦虑（例如，数学和空间焦虑）以及对性别相关的对认知和神经结果的影响的分析将新表征影响茎学习和参与方面差异的因素。

项目成果

Parents’ Beliefs about High School Students’ Spatial Abilities: Gender Differences and Associations with Parent Encouragement to Pursue a STEM Career and Students’ STEM Career Intentions

家长对高中生的信念 — 空间能力：性别差异以及家长鼓励追求 STEM 职业和学生的关联 — STEM 职业意向

• DOI: 10.1007/s11199-019-01072-6
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Sex Roles
• 影响因子: 3.8
• 作者: Muenks, Katherine;Peterson, Emily Grossnickle;Green, Adam E;Kolvoord, Robert A;Uttal, David H
• 通讯作者: Uttal, David H

High School Students’ Experiences with Geographic Information Systems and Factors Predicting Enrollment in the Geospatial Semester

高中生使用地理信息系统的经验以及预测地理空间学期入学的因素

• DOI: 10.1080/00221341.2020.1824009
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Journal of Geography
• 影响因子: 3.1
• 作者: Peterson, Emily Grossnickle;Kolvoord, Bob;Uttal, David H.;Green, Adam E.
• 通讯作者: Green, Adam E.

Spatial activity participation in childhood and adolescence: consistency and relations to spatial thinking in adolescence

童年和青春期的空间活动参与：青春期空间思维的一致性及其关系

• DOI: 10.1186/s41235-020-00239-0
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications
• 作者: Peterson, Emily Grossnickle;Weinberger, Adam B.;Uttal, David H.;Kolvoord, Bob;Green, Adam E.
• 通讯作者: Green, Adam E.