Guiding Low Spatial Ability Individuals through Visual Cueing: The Dual Importance of Where and When to Look

Research suggests that spatial ability may predict success in complex disciplines including anatomy, where mastery requires a firm understanding of the intricate relationships occurring along the course of veins, arteries, and nerves, as they traverse through and around bones, muscles, and organs. Debate exists on the malleability of spatial ability, and some suggest that spatial ability can be enhanced through training. It is hypothesized that spatial ability can be trained in low-performing individuals through visual guidance. To address this, training was completed through a visual guidance protocol. This protocol was based on eye-movement patterns of high-performing individuals, collected via eye-tracking as they completed an Electronic Mental Rotations Test (EMRT). The effects of guidance were evaluated using 33 individuals with low mental rotation ability, in a counterbalanced crossover design. Individuals were placed in one of two treatment groups (late or early guidance) and completed both a guided, and an unguided EMRT. A third group (no guidance/control) completed two unguided EMRTs. All groups demonstrated an increase in EMRT scores on their second test (P < 0.001); however, an interaction was observed between treatment and test iteration (P = 0.024). The effect of guidance on scores was contingent on when the guidance was applied. When guidance was applied early, scores were significantly greater than expected (P = 0.028). These findings suggest that by guiding individuals with low mental rotation ability “where” to look early in training, better search approaches may be adopted, yielding improvements in spatial reasoning scores. It is proposed that visual guidance may be applied in spatial fields, such as STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine), surgery, and anatomy to improve student's interpretation of visual content. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

课外活动对大学生动手和社交能力的影响探究

当代大学生的动手能力和社会交际能力普遍需要提高。本文采用问卷调查的形式,对本地大学生课外活动开展情况进行了调查,探索了现阶段的课外活动开展对大学生造成了什么样的影响及如何更好的开展课外活动,并对如何提升大学生动手能力和社会交际能力提出了有用的建议和措施。     

定向行走课程与教学专业能力研究

从感觉训练、概念发展、行动技能、定向系统、求助技能、安全议题、小区资源与大众运输系统七个方面选取50项能力指标,对海峡两岸64名担任定向行走课程的教师进行问卷调查。调查结果显示:大多数被调查者认可这50项能力指标;定向行走教师对自己的课程与教学专业能力认可度多为中等,需要进一步作培训。同时发现,在定向行走课程与专业能力各向度的重要程度上,海峡两岸定向行走教师的认知有显著差异,各向度胜任程度的差异更加明显;而定向行走教师的年龄对定向行走课程与教学专业能力在重要程度和胜任程度上并没有显著差异;海峡两岸担任定向行走课程的教师,多数认为有培训的必要。建议将重要性在3.5以上的题目编制为《定向行走专业能力检核表》;将定向行走专业能力胜任程度在3.5以下的向度作为定向行走师资培训的参考。     

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.     

Exploring Verbal,Visual and Schematic Learners' Static and Dynamic Mental Images of Scientific Species and Processes in Relation to Their Spatial Ability

The current study compared different learners’ static and dynamic mental images of unseen scientific species and processes in relation to their spatial ability. Learners were classified into verbal, visual and schematic. Dynamic images were classified into: appearing/disappearing, linear-movement, and rotation. Two types of scientific entities and their related processes were investigated: astronomical and microscopic. The sample included 79 female students from Grades 9 and 10. For the purpose of the study, three instruments were used. The Mental Images by Guided Imagery instrument was designed to investigate participants' visualization of static and dynamic mental images. The Water-Level Task was adopted to estimate participants' spatial ability. The Learning Styles Inventory was used to classify participants into verbal, visual and schematic learners. The research findings suggest that schematic learners outperformed verbal and visual learners in their spatial ability. They also outperformed them in their vividness of microscopic images; both micro-static and micro-dynamic images; especially in the case of appearing/disappearing images. The differences were not significant in the case of astronomical images. The results also indicate that appearing/disappearing images received the least vividness scores for all three types of learners.     

数学教学中学生创新能力的培养

创新是一个民族的灵魂，培养学生的创新意识和实践能力，全面提高学生的整体素质是教育改革的主要目标．本文从构建宽松、民主的教学氛围；正确处理“双基”教学与创新能力培养的关系；重视知识的形成过程的教学以及在教学中如何重视学生思维能力的培育等几个方面谈了自己的认识．     

毕业论文指导过程中学生创新能力培养问题的探讨

创新能力是本科毕业生应当具备的基本能力之一，本文从当前毕业论文的创新性不足入手，分析其形成原因，并探讨在毕业论文指导环节加强创新能力培养的具体方法和操作步骤。     

高职教育统计专业应注重技能培养

在统计课教学中，要设置基本技能标准，积极改进教学方法，强化实践教学环节，以此来增强学生基本技能，以实现高职学生的培养目标。     

大学英语四级写作存在的问题及练习技巧

英文写作是衡量学生英语综合水平和应用能力的一个重要指标，也是大学生英语考试中最薄弱的一环。本文分析了学生四级作文中出现的问题，并对如何提高写作技巧略作探讨。