Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Ave, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
Center for Applied Brain & Cognitive Sciences, 200 Boston Ave, Medford, MA, 02155, USA.
Behav Res Methods. 2019 Apr;51(2):602-638. doi: 10.3758/s13428-018-01192-z.
Individuals with better spatial thinking have increased interest and greater achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow in Journal of Educational Psychology, 101, 817-835, 2009). This relationship means that STEM education may benefit from leveraging spatial thinking, but measures of spatial thinking as they relate to specific STEM disciplines are needed. The present work presents an assessment of spatial and mathematical reasoning, called Make-A-Dice. In Make-A-Dice, individuals are presented with a cube net (i.e., a flattened cube) with numbers on two sides. Their goal is to "make a dice" by filling in the blank sides using two rules: opposite sides add to 7, and the numbers 1 through 6 should be used once each. Make-A-Dice was given to adults (Study 1) and elementary students (Studies 2 and 3) along with math, spatial, and other measures, across two sessions in all studies. Make-A-Dice had both internal and test-retest reliability, with items ordered by difficulty. Furthermore, performance was related to spatial and mathematical reasoning. In Study 1, adults reported a range of strategies used to complete Make-A-Dice, and one strategy predicted performance. Studies 2 and 3 showed that Make-A-Dice is age-appropriate for elementary students. Make-A-Dice shows promise as an individual-difference measure linking spatial and mathematical thinking and has the potential to identify elementary-aged children who may benefit from spatial training.
具有更好空间思维能力的个体在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）学科中表现出更高的兴趣和更好的成就（Wai、Lubinski 和 Benbow 在《教育心理学杂志》，101，817-835，2009 年）。这种关系意味着 STEM 教育可能受益于利用空间思维，但需要与特定 STEM 学科相关的空间思维衡量标准。本研究提出了一种空间和数学推理的评估方法，称为 Make-A-Dice。在 Make-A-Dice 中，个体被呈现一个带有数字的立方体网格（即一个扁平的立方体）。他们的目标是通过遵循两个规则来“制作骰子”：相对的面加起来等于 7，并且应该使用数字 1 到 6 各一次。Make-A-Dice 与数学、空间和其他测量方法一起，在所有研究的两个阶段中，对成年人（研究 1）和小学生（研究 2 和 3）进行了测试。在所有研究中，Make-A-Dice 具有内部和重测可靠性，并且项目按照难度排序。此外，表现与空间和数学推理有关。在研究 1 中，成年人报告了完成 Make-A-Dice 所使用的一系列策略，其中一种策略可以预测表现。研究 2 和 3 表明，Make-A-Dice 适合小学生使用。Make-A-Dice 作为一种将空间和数学思维联系起来的个体差异衡量标准具有很大的潜力，可以识别出可能受益于空间训练的小学生。
