Gender differences in spatial ability: Relationship to spatial experience among Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong

Spatial ability based on measures of mental rotation, and spatial experience based on self‐reported participation in visual‐arts as well as spatial‐orientation activities were assessed in a sample of 337 Chinese, gifted students. Consistent with past findings for the general population, there were gender differences in spatial ability favoring boys. However, other results provided little support for the idea that gender differences in spatial experience might foster gender differences in spatial ability; specifically, results showed modest gender differences in visual‐arts experience favoring girls, and variation in visual orientation experience favoring secondary‐school boys. Nonetheless, the role of spatial experience had a more marked effect on girls, suggesting that encouraging female students to gain spatial experience might help bridge the gap in spatial ability between the genders.     

论基于空间结构的宏观经济政策

基于空间结构的宏观经济政策是公共政策的重要内容之一。主要内容包括以最佳结构和最佳发展为导向的总体空间布局和以最佳空间经济绩效为导向的城市空间发展政策，当今中国，宏观空间经济政策存在的主要问题是缺乏科学解释空间政策实施的哲学基础，有效的宏观政策工具和连续一贯的空间经济政策目标，宏观空间经济的微观基础，空间利益关系以及技术变化和全球化对它的影响是有待进一步研究的问题。     

A study of two measures of spatial ability as predictors of success in different levels of general chemistry

Preliminary data (Bodner and McMillen, 1986) suggested a correlation between spatial ability and performance in a general chemistry course for science and engineering majors. This correlation was seen not only on highly spatial tasks such as predicting the structures of ionic solids (r = 0.29), but also on tasks such as multiple-choice stoichiometry questions (r = 0.32) that might not be expected to involve spatial skills. To further investigate the relationship between spatial ability and performance in introductory chemistry courses, two spatial tests were given to 1648 students in a course for science and engineering majors (Carter, 1984) and 850 students in a course for students from nursing and agriculture (La-Russa, 1985) at Purdue. Scores on the spatial tests consistently contributed a small but significant amount to success on measures of performance in chemistry. Correlations were largest, however, for subscores that grouped questions that tested problem solving skills rather than rote memory or the application of simple algorithms, and correlations were also large for verbally complex questions thaty required the students to disembed and restructure relevant information.     

Spatial Abilities Training in Anatomy Education: A Systematic Review

Spatial abilities have been correlated to anatomy knowledge assessment and spatial training has been found to improve spatial abilities in previous systematic reviews. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate spatial abilities training in anatomy education. A literature search was done from inception to 3 August 2017 in Scopus^® and several databases on the EBSCOhost platform. Citations were reviewed and those involving anatomy education, an intervention, and a spatial abilities test were retained and the corresponding full-text articles were reviewed for inclusion. Before and after training studies, as well as comparative training programs, relating a spatial training intervention to spatial abilities were eligible. Of the 2,405 citations obtained, 52 articles were identified and reviewed, yielding eight eligible articles. Instruction in anatomy and mental rotations training were found to improve spatial abilities. For the seven studies retained for the meta-analysis that included the effect of interventions on spatial abilities test scores, the pooled treatment effect difference was 0.49 (95% CI [0.17; 0.82]; n = 11) improvement. For the two studies that included the practice effect on spatial abilities test scores in a control group, the pooled treatment effect difference was 0.47 (95% CI [−0.03; 0.97]; n = 2) improvement. In these two studies, the impact of the intervention on spatial abilities test scores was found despite the practice effect. Evidence was found for improvement of spatial abilities in anatomy education using instruction in anatomy and mental rotations training.     

Spontaneous spatial strategy use in learning from scientific text

Two studies explored the role of the spontaneous use of spatial note-taking strategies (i.e., creating maps and drawings) and spatial ability in learning from a scientific passage. In Study 1, college students read and took notes by hand on a 10-paragraph scientific passage about the human respiratory system. Students tended to use verbal strategies such as lists (on 48% of the paragraphs), outlines (29%) and running text (15%), but also used spatial strategies such as maps (28%) and drawings (11%). Regression analyses indicated that spatial ability and the use of spatial strategies (maps or drawings) significantly predicted learning outcomes, with spatial strategy use explaining additional variance beyond spatial ability. In Study 2, students read the same scientific passage and took notes either by hand on paper (paper group), by hand on a large whiteboard (whiteboard group), or on a laptop computer (computer group). A similar general pattern as Study 1 was found for the paper group, but this pattern was not found for the computer or whiteboard groups, suggesting that the relationships found in Study 1 might depend on the note-taking medium. Results also indicated that students in the paper and whiteboard groups spontaneously used more spatial strategies, whereas the computer group tended to use verbal strategies (i.e., words only), suggesting that different note-taking contexts encourage different strategies.     

Examining the Relations Between Spatial Skills,Spatial Anxiety,and K‐12 Teacher Practice

Spatial skills are important for student success in STEM disciplines at the K‐12 educational level. Teachers' spatial skills and feelings about completing spatial tasks influence their teaching as well as their students' spatial learning. However, the relation between teachers' spatial skills and their spatial anxiety is not well understood. Here we investigated if teachers' spatial skills influence two kinds of small‐scale spatial anxiety: (a) anxiety for tasks involving visual imagery and (b) anxiety for tasks involving mental manipulations. In addition, we investigated if teachers' spatial skills in conjunction with their small‐scale spatial anxiety influence the integration of spatial practices, such as gestures and diagrams, into their teaching. Eighty‐two K‐12 teachers completed two subscales of small‐scale spatial anxiety, a measure of spatial skills, and a teaching activities questionnaire. Results indicate that teachers' spatial skills are negatively associated with their spatial anxiety for mental manipulation tasks, and positively associated with their use of spatial practices. These findings highlight the need to account for teachers' spatial skills when considering how to improve students' spatial learning.     

Associations of timing of puberty, spatial ability, and lateralization in adult women

The purpose of this study was to determine whether timing of puberty is related to spatial ability in adult women, and whether, if so, the relation could be attributed to timing-related differences in hemispheric specialization and/or timing-related differences in personality and spatial activity. 53 female undergraduates were given 2 tests of spatial ability, tests of both right-hemispheric and left-hemispheric specialization using tachistoscopic procedures, several tests assessing masculinity and femininity, and a questionnaire on spatial activity. They were also asked to recall their age at menarche. Later age at menarche was associated with greater right-hemispheric advantage on the dot location task but not with higher spatial ability. Spatial ability in this sample was in fact correlated with greater left-hemispheric advantage on the dot location task, as well as with more balanced hemispheric specialization on the syllable task. It is suggested that variability in findings regarding cognitive correlates of timing of puberty may be related to variability in strategies for approaching tasks. The implications of these data for efforts to explain sex-related differences in spatial ability are discussed.     

一种新的空间数据挖掘系统的分析与研究

由于地理信息系统技术（GIS）的出现,积累了大量空间数据,从而导致了空间数据挖掘技术的产生。本文提出了一种新的空间数据挖掘系统（SH-miner）,SH-miner由三部分组成：图形用户界面,用来输入和输出;数据挖掘模块,用来处理空间数据挖掘功能;数据存储模块,用来存储和管理空间数据以及非空间数据的数据库管理系统。尤其是数据挖掘模块提供了专业空间数据挖掘,其功能包括空间聚类、分类、空间表征、时空关联规则挖掘。     

Working Memory and Strategy Use Contribute to Gender Differences in Spatial Ability

In this review, a new model that is grounded in information-processing theory is proposed to account for gender differences in spatial ability. The proposed model assumes that the relative strength of working memory, as expressed by the ratio of visuospatial working memory to verbal working memory, influences the type of strategies used on spatial ability tasks. Strategy use, in turn, influences performance on spatial ability tasks. Gender differences in spatial ability can be explained by gender differences in strategy use as a function of the relative strength of visuospatial working memory to verbal working memory.     

Real-Time Data Display, Spatial Visualization Ability, and Learning Force and Motion Concepts

In this study, we examined how students' levels of spatial visualization ability interact with learning physics in a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) environment. Undergraduate students who had taken an introductory physics course based on MBL tools were pre- and posttested at the beginning and at the end of the semester on spatial visualization ability and their conceptual understanding of mechanics. The results showed that while spatial visualization is a reliable predictor for students' performance on physics conceptual evaluation tests before MBL instruction, the relation is not significant after the instruction. Furthermore, as a result of MBL instruction, students' levels of spatial visualization increased significantly. In addition, a group of science teachers presented with different types of MBL activities also showed a significant increase in spatial visualization ability.     

Developing a Framework of System Change between Diametric and Concentric Spaces for Early School Leaving Prevention

A ‘spatial turn’ is observed as taking place across a range of disciplines. This article discusses the relevance of this ‘spatial turn’ to the issue of early school leaving prevention and engagement of marginalised students and their parents within the educational system and other support services. Building on reconceptualisation of an aspect of structural anthropology a specific dynamic spatial interaction between diametric and concentric structures of relation is proposed. Reification is interpreted as involving a diametric space of assumed separation, closure and mirror image inversions. Concentric relational space as assumed connection and relative openness is a precondition for trust, care and voice. Diametric and concentric spatial features of school and related systems are interrogated for early school leaving issues, such as the importance of relational supports to keep students in the system; the precondition of trust for parental involvement of more marginalised parents, including a lifelong learning and family support aspect; the need to challenge the school as a closed system with reified hierarchies.     

Enhancing learning in the life sciences through spatial perception

Recent educational research finds if students are encouraged to form mental images of events, objects and written or spoken words, learning of the material is enhanced. The inability to image an item may, in fact, hinder one's learning efforts in some disciplines. To find if low spatial apptitude does have a deleterious effect on learning in the life sciences, two hundred and fifty undergraduates taking a nonmajor's biology course were given tests to measure their visual-spatial awareness. Students falling more than one standard deviation from the mean were classified as low in spatial cognition and were randomly sorted into an experimental and a control group. Exercises known to enhance spatial understanding were conducted weekly with the experimental group. When the final grades for the course were examined at the end of the semester, it was found that students in the experimental group scored significantly better than the control group in the biology course. These students, however, did not reach the same level of proficiency as the students who were measuring high in spatial ability initially.He became interested in visual-spatial aptitude and its effect on learning as a doctoral student at Rutgers University and furthered his studies on the topic as a post-doc at Birmingham University in England. While there he worked with Janic Weikowski and I. MacFarlene Smith, two premier British researchers on spatial perception. Dr. Lord has published several articles on spatial learning and given numerous presentations on the topic in recent years.     

How spatial abilities enhance,and are enhanced by,dental education

In two studies with a total of 324 participants, dentistry students were assessed on psychometric measures of spatial ability, reasoning ability, and on new measures of the ability to infer the appearance of a cross-section of a three-dimensional (3-D) object. We examined how these abilities and skills predict success in dental education programs, and whether dental education enhances an individual's spatial competence. The cross-section tests were correlated with spatial ability measures, even after controlling for reasoning ability, suggesting that they rely specifically on the ability to store and transform spatial representations. Sex differences in these measures indicated a male advantage, as is often found on measures of spatial ability. Spatial ability was somewhat predictive of performance in restorative dentistry practical laboratory classes, but not of learning anatomy in general. Comparisons of the performance of students early and late in their dental education indicated that dentistry students develop spatial mental models of the 3-D structure of teeth, which improves their ability to mentally maintain and manipulate representations of these specific structures, but there is no evidence that dental education improves spatial transformation abilities more generally.     

城市空间正义研究综述

近半世纪以来,随着新的城市问题的不断产生,新马克思主义学者以城市为切入口,对资本主义逻辑下空间正义问题的研究取得了重大进展。近年来,国内学者对我国城市空间正义问题也进行了相关探讨,主要表现在对城市空间正义的多维阐释、城市空间非正义的形成机制、城市空间正义的价值诉求等方面。     

Expanding Talent Search Procedures by Including Measures of Spatial Ability: CTY's Spatial Test Battery

The importance of spatial ability for success in a variety of domains, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), is widely acknowledged. Yet, students with high spatial ability are rarely identified, as Talent Searches for academically talented students focus on identifying high mathematical and verbal abilities. Consequently, students with high spatial abilities who do not also have high math or verbal abilities may not qualify. In an effort to identify students with spatial talent, the Center for Talented Youth developed a Spatial Test Battery to supplement its mathematical and verbal Talent Searches. This article traces the development of the battery; describes its components, important psychometric properties, and continuing development; and encourages its use by researchers and educators interested in developing spatial talent.     

基于圆壳区域伸缩的空间知识表示

区域连接演算RCC(region connection calculs)是定性空间推理的重要理论之一,但由于缺乏必要的定量工具,RCC只能描述空间拓扑关系,而不能描述距离、方向等其他空间关系。在RCC理论的基础上,引入区域圆壳概念对区域伸缩加以度量,得出一种以区域为单位的形式化度量方法,来描述区域间的距离关系、方向关系,从而增强RCC的空间关系表示能力,拓展了RCC理论的适用范围。     

实现ArcGIS环境下的确认性空间数据分析功能

在地理信息科学领域,空间分析扮演着中心的作用.但目前的地理信息系统商业软件中,空间分析功能仍是一个薄弱环节;即便是美国ESR I公司的ArcGIS,其空间分析模块也仅仅局限于探索性空间数据分析的功能,从而极大地限制了地理信息系统作为空间决策支持平台的作用.本研究的目标便是解决这一问题.我们经过反复实践实现了ArcGIS环境下的确认性空间数据分析功能,包括古典线性回归模型和空间计量经济学模型的标准诊断、估计、以及可靠性检测的复杂算法.通过对ArcGIS的二次开发,真正实现了地理信息系统和空间分析功能的全面集成.     

The role of visualization in learning from computer‐based images

Among the sciences, the practice of geology is especially visual. To assess the role of spatial ability in learning geology, we designed an experiment using: (1) web‐based versions of spatial visualization tests, (2) a geospatial test, and (3) multimedia instructional modules built around QuickTime Virtual Reality movies. Students in control and experimental sections were administered measures of spatial orientation and visualization, as well as a content‐based geospatial examination. All subjects improved significantly in their scores on spatial visualization and the geospatial examination. There was no change in their scores on spatial orientation. A three‐way analysis of variance, with the geospatial examination as the dependent variable, revealed significant main effects favoring the experimental group and a significant interaction between treatment and gender. These results demonstrate that spatial ability can be improved through instruction, that learning of geological content will improve as a result, and that differences in performance between the genders can be eliminated.     

在WEB-GIS环境下基于Hillbert曲线的空间查询优化方法

在WEB环境下的（Geographical Information System-GIS）的应用程序中,客户端的用户浏览空间对象集合具有明显的访问局部性。本文提出了一种在空间查询中利用H illbert曲线空间局部性特性预先提取空间数据的空间优化方法,该方法充分利用用户访问模式的特点大大提高了在空间数据库上执行空间查询的响应时间,最后给出了优化方法的算法伪代码以及在MAPGIS平台上的试验分析数据。     

辽宁沿海经济带旅游空间结构演变与优化研究

辽宁沿海经济带是辽宁旅游产业发展的重要区域,其旅游资源丰富,旅游收入占全省旅游收入的47%。分析辽宁沿海经济带的旅游空间结构并对其进行优化调整,可以有效利用旅游资源,持续增加旅游收入,促进旅游产业可持续发展。梳理辽宁沿海经济带旅游资源种类及空间分布,并对辽宁沿海经济带旅游空间结构进行深入剖析,从旅游地生命周期的视角将辽宁沿海经济带旅游空间结构演变划分为4个阶段,结合国家对辽宁沿海经济带的战略布局以及其旅游资源特色、旅游产业发展现状和潜力,将辽宁沿海经济带旅游产业定位为"山海风情休闲旅游",以滨海旅游和自然风光为主导,通过辽宁沿海经济带旅游节点的相互连接,打造具有"一心三轴"特征的旅游空间结构。