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The Effect of a Spatial Skills Training Course in Introductory Computing

Authors:

Jack Parkinson,

Quintin CuttsAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE '20: Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

Pages 439 - 445

https://doi.org/10.1145/3341525.3387413

Published: 15 June 2020 Publication History

Abstract

Spatial skills have been associated with STEM success for decades. Research has shown that training spatial skills can have a positive impact on outcomes in STEM domains such as engineering, mathematics and physics; however -- despite some promising leads -- evidence for the same relationship with computing is limited. This research describes a spatial skills intervention delivered to around 60 students in introductory computing courses who tested with relatively low spatial skills, mirroring a well established intervention developed and used by Sorby in engineering for over 20 years. This study has shown correlation between spatial skills and computing assessment marks which was observed both before and after training took place, suggesting that as the students' spatial skills are improved via training, so too is their computing assessment. Students who took part in the intervention also showed a significant increase in class rankings over their peers. The authors consider this to be a good indication that spatial skills training for low spatial skills scorers starting a computing degree is of value.

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Cited By

C. Parker MMarsh JNguyen ASalazar CVehouni G(2024)The Effect (or Lack Thereof) of Spatial Skills Training in a Mid-Major Computing CourseProceedings of the 24th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3699538.3699566(1-11)Online publication date: 12-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3699538.3699566
Parkinson JMargulieux L(2024)Improving CS Performance by Developing Spatial SkillsCommunications of the ACM10.1145/368040968:1(68-75)Online publication date: 11-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3680409
Campbell OSanusi IAtagana HMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)From Visual Arts to Programming: Exploring the Impact on Achievement in Constructionist College CS1 ClassesProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653597(604-610)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653597
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Index Terms

The Effect of a Spatial Skills Training Course in Introductory Computing
1. Applied computing
  1. Education

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ITiCSE '20: Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

June 2020

615 pages

ISBN:9781450368742

DOI:10.1145/3341525

General Chairs:
Michail Giannakos
NTNU, Norway
,
Guttorm Sindre
Excited/NTNU, Norway
,
Program Chairs:
Andrew Luxton-Reilly
University of Auckland, NZ
,
Monica Divitini
NTNU, Norway

Copyright © 2020 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 15 June 2020

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ITiCSE '20

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SIGCSE

ITiCSE '20: Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

June 15 - 19, 2020

Trondheim, Norway

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Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

C. Parker MMarsh JNguyen ASalazar CVehouni G(2024)The Effect (or Lack Thereof) of Spatial Skills Training in a Mid-Major Computing CourseProceedings of the 24th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research10.1145/3699538.3699566(1-11)Online publication date: 12-Nov-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3699538.3699566
Parkinson JMargulieux L(2024)Improving CS Performance by Developing Spatial SkillsCommunications of the ACM10.1145/368040968:1(68-75)Online publication date: 11-Dec-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3680409
Campbell OSanusi IAtagana HMonga MLonati VBarendsen ESheard JPaterson J(2024)From Visual Arts to Programming: Exploring the Impact on Achievement in Constructionist College CS1 ClassesProceedings of the 2024 on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 110.1145/3649217.3653597(604-610)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3649217.3653597
Parkinson J(2024)Associations between Secondary School Students' Spatial Skills and Teacher Perceptions of CS Engagement and AptitudeProceedings of the 2024 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 210.1145/3632621.3671426(537-538)Online publication date: 12-Aug-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3632621.3671426
Xu OLi TGiacaman NWang ZWünsche B(2024)Design and Validation of Procedurally Generated Personalised Spatial Reasoning Tests2024 39th International Conference on Image and Vision Computing New Zealand (IVCNZ)10.1109/IVCNZ64857.2024.10794488(1-6)Online publication date: 4-Dec-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/IVCNZ64857.2024.10794488
Çetinkaya ABaykan ÖKırgız H(2023)Analysis of Machine Learning Classification Approaches for Predicting Students’ Programming AptitudeSustainability10.3390/su15171291715:17(12917)Online publication date: 27-Aug-2023
https://doi.org/10.3390/su151712917
Montuori CPozzan GPadova CRonconi LVardanega TArfé B(2023)Combined Unplugged and Educational Robotics Training to Promote Computational Thinking and Cognitive Abilities in PreschoolersEducation Sciences10.3390/educsci1309085813:9(858)Online publication date: 23-Aug-2023
https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13090858
Parkinson J(2023)An Overview of the Relationship between Spatial Skills and Computing ScienceProceedings of the 2023 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research10.1145/3610969.3611133(1-1)Online publication date: 7-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3610969.3611133
Parkinson J(2023)Improving Computational Thinking with Spatial Skills Development in Primary SchoolProceedings of the 18th WiPSCE Conference on Primary and Secondary Computing Education Research10.1145/3605468.3609780(1-2)Online publication date: 27-Sep-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3605468.3609780
Parkinson JCutts Q(2023)Understanding Spatial Skills and Encoding Strategies in Student Problem Solving ActivitiesProceedings of the 2023 ACM Conference on International Computing Education Research - Volume 110.1145/3568813.3600134(134-147)Online publication date: 7-Aug-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3568813.3600134
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