Critical Spatial Skills Research
I became interested in spatial skills when I heard the suggestion that women’s lack of spatial ability was a contributor to their lower rates of participation in engineering and design. As I researched how this belief came about, I was very surprised to learn that some popular spatial tests were intentionally designed to demonstrate gender differences. My research in this area takes a critical approach and draws on STS theory, gender theory, and visual perception theory.
I am always interested in meeting other researchers who want to take a more critical approach to thinking about spatial skills in engineering education. If that is you, please don’t hesistate to contact me!
Publications
The role of a graphical interpretation factor in the assessment of spatial visualization: A critical analysis
Kristin A. Bartlett and Jorge D. Camba, Spatial Cognition and Computation, 2023
Common tests of spatial skills do not simply test one’s ability to mentally manipulate shapes. Instead, many popular assessments depend on a separate ability to comprehend two-dimensional graphical depictions of three-dimensional objects. This could be an example of construct-irrelevant variance which is a major threat to instrument validity.
Design and Validation of a Virtual Reality Mental Rotation Test
Kristin A. Bartlett, Almudena Palacios-Ibáñez, and Jorge D. Camba, ACM Transactions on Applied Perception, 2024
We created a VR-based spatial test, the VRMRA which reimagines traditional mental rotation tests (the PSVT:R and MRT) in a room-scale virtual environment. In this paper, we describe testing with participants, and compare the response patters to questions in the VRMRA with the traditional tests. Our results suggested that the VRMRA was more accurate at assessing mental rotation, but also indicated potential problems with the spatial test question formats.
Gender differences in spatial ability: A critical review
Kristin A. Bartlett and Jorge D. Camba, Educational Psychology Review, 2023
We argue that the construct of “spatial ability” itself has been co-constructed with gender, and thus has not been devised in a neutral way, but in a manner that is influenced by gender beliefs. Though spatial thinking is also required in feminized fields, past research has cast spatial ability as only necessary in masculinized STEM fields. Due to a prevailing belief that spatial ability was an inherently male ability, researchers “selectively bred” some spatial assessment instruments to maximize gender differences, rather than to precisely measure a spatial construct.
The Politics of the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test of Rotations (PSVT:R) and its Use in Engineering Education
Kristin A. Bartlett, Engineering Studies, 2023
In this paper, provide a critical review of the literature which provides the historical basis for current beliefs about the PSVT:R and its validity for use in engineering education. I discuss how the construct of “gestalt processing” was created in an effort to raise the status of spatial instruments which favored men.
Why our Current Conception of Spatial Skills is at Odds with Equity in Engineering Education
Kristin A. Bartlett, ASEE 2024
This paper takes the form of a “visual paper” which uses illustrations and minimal text to tell a story. The paper highlights research which questions the validity of popular spatial tests and discusses the history of spatial testing.
This video provides more information about the VRMRA application. The VRMRA is available for download on my GitHub page and can be installed on Meta Quest 2 headsets. I hope the application is useful to other researchers, feel free to contact me if you have questions about it.
Additional Publications
Bartlett, K. A., Palacios-Ibáñez, A., & Camba, J. D. (2024). A gamified approach to assessing mental rotation in virtual reality. Proceedings of the Design Society, 4, 2805–2814. Reviewer’s Favourite Award for top 10% of papers
Bartlett, K. A., Camba, J. D. (2023). Is this a real 3D shape? An investigation of construct validity and item difficulty in the PSVT:R. Visual Cognition, 31(3), 235-255.
Bartlett, K. A., Camba, J. D. (2024). Toward a broader understanding of spatial ability in CAD education. Computer-Aided Design and Applications, 21(1), 39-54.
Bartlett, K.A., Camba, J.D. (2023). Is the PSVT:R Suitable for Evaluating Spatial Skill in Design? A Critique. In: Gero, J.S. (Ed.) Design Computing and Cognition’22. Springer, Cham.
Conesa, J., Mula, F. J., Bartlett, K. A., Naya, F., Contero, M. (2023). The Influence of Immersive and Collaborative Virtual Environments in Improving Spatial Skills. Applied Sciences, 13(14), 8426.
Bartlett, K., Camba, J.D. (2022). Isometric Projection as a Threat to Validity in the PSVT:R. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition. Minneapolis, MN. June 26-29.
Bartlett, K., Camba, J.D. (2022). An argument for visualization technologies in spatial skills assessment. In: Zaphiris, P., Ioannou, A. (Eds.) Learning and Collaboration Technologies. Designing the Learner and Teacher Experience. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 13328 (pp. 30-39). Springer, Cham. International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. (Online due to COVD-19), June 26 – July 1.