Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32300890›Full record

ArticleCognitive research: principles and implications2020

Elementary teachers' attitudes and beliefs about spatial thinking and mathematics.

Heather Burte, Aaron L Gardony, Allyson Hutton, Holly A Taylor

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cognitive research: principles and implications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Heather BurteTexas A&M University, Psychological and Brain Sciences, 4235 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA. heather.burte@tamu.edu.
Aaron L GardonyDepartment of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
Allyson HuttonThink3d!, 3811 Van Ness Street NW, Washington, DC, 20016, USA.
Holly A TaylorDepartment of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Considering how spatial thinking connects to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) outcomes, recent studies have evaluated how spatial interventions impact elementary students' math learning. While promising, these interventions tend to overlook other factors affecting math learning; perceptions of math abilities, beliefs about math, and math anxiety can also impact math performance. Additionally, perceptions of spatial skill and spatial anxiety impact spatial performance. This study investigated how elementary teachers' perceptions of spatial thinking connects with math perceptions. Specifically, we focused on teachers' attitudes and beliefs around three topics: teaching and learning math, spatial abilities, and spatial thinking in mathematics. We found that lower spatial anxiety related to lower anxiety about teaching math, greater alignment between math beliefs and math standards, and greater efficacy in teaching and learning math. Further, a factor analysis showed one factor that connected stereotypical math thinking with both math and spatial anxiety, and another that connected spatial competencies, teaching and learning math, and spatial thinking within math. To further evaluate spatial thinking in math, we introduced a math categorization and verified it using teachers' ratings of teaching difficulty, visualization helpfulness, and spatial-thinking involvement. Structural equation models revealed that the level of spatial-thinking categorization was the best model of all three of the teachers' ratings. Overall, results showed numerous connections between teachers' attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and spatial thinking. Future intervention studies should consider teachers who are spatial and/or math-anxious, and future research should investigate the role of stereotypical thinking in spatial and math anxiety.

Indexed as

AttitudeMathematical ConceptsMathematicsSchool TeachersSpace PerceptionSpatial NavigationThinkingAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedYoung AdultElementary school teachersMath anxietyMath beliefsSpatial anxietySpatial thinking

Identifiers

PMID32300890
PMCPMC7163003

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.