Bridging the Translation Gap: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Infusing Spatial Thinking into Third Grade Science

• In Event: 3-219 - Exploring New Translational Science Approaches to Incorporate Spatial Thinking in Elementary Science

Integrative Statement

Over fifty years of research suggests spatial thinking represents foundationl sklls underlying students’ academic achievement and future success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The importance of spatial thinking in science has received increased attention in academic discussions (Newcombe, 2010, 2013), and efforts have been made to incorporate spatial thinking into new education standards (e.g., Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core); however, the intentional practice of teaching spatial thinking skills is still largely absent from formal K-12 education. The translation of science into classroom practice is challenging for a variety of reasons, including the limited ways in which research findings are disseminated to educators, the difficulty “translating” the key findings of the research into practical applications suitable for educational contexts, and the limited resources to support development and implementation. Moreover, several theoretical questions arise as well: How should one delineate and measure the extent to which the translation of research into explicit practices is valid? How can one effectively bridge spatial thinking research and implementation science theories and methodologies to best identify and capture the critical drivers of the learning system and its outcomes? (e.g., teacher, student, curriculum, and contextual drivers; Forman et al., 2013; Halle, Metz, & Martinez-Beck, 2013; Stokols, 2006).

Our multi-year program development project draws upon developmental, educational, and implementation sciences to translate five spatial enhancement techniques (gesture, language, visualizations, analogy, sketching) into an existing 3rd grade science curriculum in a large school district. In this paper, we will first provide an overview of our interdisciplinary theory of change model (see fig. 1), which captures critical components of the complex learning system: (1) the teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs, spatial knowledge and skills; (2) students’ knowledge, spatial skills, and science interest, and (3) implementation drivers (e.g., instructional quality, implementation fidelity, curriculum usability and feasibility). Second, we will discuss our approach to addressing the common practical and theoretical challenges in translational science research, including the multi-stage design process that addresses the time and resource constraints of schools (e.g., pedagogy infusion versus curriculum replacement, degree of usability and feasibility), as well as the tools and measures we used to capture the translation of spatial thinking constructs into activities in the classroom. Third, we will discuss the importance of creating an interdisciplinary team with expertise spanning curriculum development, program evaluation, and developmental science in program design, as well as the importance of including leadership partners to facilitate the organizational drivers for effective training and implementation throughout the course of the project. Fourth, we will explore how our theory of change model informed new measurement development in each of the areas and present preliminary measurement validation data (currently underway). Lastly, we will close with a discussion of how the project provides new theoretical and practical frameworks for translational science.

Authors

• Kelly R. Fisher, Johns Hopkins University
  Presenting Author

• Kristin M. Gagnier, Johns Hopkins University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Burcu Unlutabak, Johns Hopkins University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Steven Holochwost, WolfBrown
  Non-Presenting Author