Mental rotation abilities are crucial for success in STEM disciplines (Uttal, Miller, & Newcombe, 2013): students scoring low, mainly women and girls, are less prone to engage in STEM careers (National Science Foundation, 2011). Mental rotation abilities can be improved by practising spatial tests (Wright et al., 2008), or sketching 3-D objects (Sorby, 2009), but the efficacy of training sessions that focus on motivational factors has never been tested. This is surprising because among the factors affecting mental rotation performances are experience with spatial tasks and motivational aspects (Miller & Halpern, 2014), such as ability and gender-related beliefs (Moè, 2012) The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of long and brief motivational training in improving mental rotation abilities compared with a strategic only or a strategic plus motivational training, and with a control condition. Two experiments were conducted with high school students and with first year Psychology students. Participants were trained in improving their mental rotation scores either suggesting strategies or functional beliefs or both. Exp 1 showed that non-STEM girls double their mental rotation scores after each training: there was no difference between teaching strategies or motivation. Improvements occur after the second session of training, which lasted for three 1-hr sessions. Exp 2 demonstrated that a 1-hr intensive training increases two-fold the MRT scores of women and men attending no-STEM university courses. The discussion focuses on the motivational factors that account for the difficulties that women, girls and no-STEM students encounter in performing mental rotation tasks.
Motivational trainings improve mental rotation abilities in no-STEM students
MOE', ANGELICA
2016
Abstract
Mental rotation abilities are crucial for success in STEM disciplines (Uttal, Miller, & Newcombe, 2013): students scoring low, mainly women and girls, are less prone to engage in STEM careers (National Science Foundation, 2011). Mental rotation abilities can be improved by practising spatial tests (Wright et al., 2008), or sketching 3-D objects (Sorby, 2009), but the efficacy of training sessions that focus on motivational factors has never been tested. This is surprising because among the factors affecting mental rotation performances are experience with spatial tasks and motivational aspects (Miller & Halpern, 2014), such as ability and gender-related beliefs (Moè, 2012) The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of long and brief motivational training in improving mental rotation abilities compared with a strategic only or a strategic plus motivational training, and with a control condition. Two experiments were conducted with high school students and with first year Psychology students. Participants were trained in improving their mental rotation scores either suggesting strategies or functional beliefs or both. Exp 1 showed that non-STEM girls double their mental rotation scores after each training: there was no difference between teaching strategies or motivation. Improvements occur after the second session of training, which lasted for three 1-hr sessions. Exp 2 demonstrated that a 1-hr intensive training increases two-fold the MRT scores of women and men attending no-STEM university courses. The discussion focuses on the motivational factors that account for the difficulties that women, girls and no-STEM students encounter in performing mental rotation tasks.
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