How Can We Best Assess Spatial Skills? Practical and Conceptual Challenges

Spatial thinking skills are associated with performance, persistence, and achievement in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) school subjects. Because STEM knowledge and skills are integral to developing a well-trained workforce within and beyond STEM, spatial skills have become a major focus of cognitive, developmental, and educational research. However, these efforts are greatly hampered by the current lack of access to reliable, valid, and well-normed spatial tests. Although there are hundreds of spatial tests, they are often hard to access and use, and information about their psychometric properties is frequently lacking. Additional problems include (1) substantial disagreement about what different spatial tests measure; even two tests with similar names may measure very different constructs; (2) some STEM-relevant spatial skills may not be measured by any existing tests; (3) many tests are only available for specific age groups. The first part of this report delineates these problems, as documented in a series of structured and open-ended interviews with colleagues. The second part outlines a roadmap for addressing the problems. We present possibilities for developing shared testing systems that would allow researchers to test many participants through the Internet. We discuss technological innovations, such as virtual reality, which could facilitate testing of navigation and other spatial skills. Developing a bank of testing resources will empower researchers and educators to explore and support spatial thinking in their disciplines, as well as drive development of a comprehensive and coherent theoretical understanding of spatial thinking.