• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.176-184
• /
• 2004

The concept of 'the lunar and planetary phases' is very difficult to understand and students may have various misconceptions on this concept. A module drawing the lunar and planetary phases was developed with the application of the simplifying conditions method. The effects of instruction using the module drawing the lunar and planetary phases on the conceptual change and the achievement was investigated in the consideration of learners' characteristics (spatial perception ability, science inquiry ability, required pre-requested learning ability). Findings were as follows: 1) This module was effective for learners' conceptual change and achievement, 2) This module had a positive influence for development the learners' characteristics and conceptual change with the middle level of science inquiry ability, the middle and low level of required pre-requisite learning ability, and middle level of the spatial perception ability.

• Communications of Mathematical Education
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.553-571
• /
• 2015

Mathematical, verbal, and spatial abilities are known as three important indicators for the success in the STEM disciplines. In this study, Purdue Spatial Visualization Test-Rotation, College Entrance Scholastic Aptitude Test- Math and Verbal score of engineering freshmen students have been used to find the relationships among these areas. In addition, gender differences in spatial visualization, verbal achievement and mathematical achievement have been investigated, too. In this research, I found that gender difference was highest in spatial visualization ability, followed by verbal achievement and smallest in mathematical achievement. Substantial number of male students possess high level of spatial abilities, but only half of female students were at the same level where their male colleagues were. The correlation between spatial ability and mathematical ability was negligible, contrary to former researches on elementary and middle school students. But the correlation was stronger for female students than male students. The correlation between mathematical achievement and verbal achievement was negative. It reflects the fact that when one section of SAT score is low, score of other sections should be higher to get admitted to college. Gender difference in mathematics was smallest for high achieving spatial ability group. For low spatial ability group gender difference in mathematics achievement has been observed, too. To find the combined contribution of spatial and verbal abilities to mathematics achievement, students were divided into 4 ability groups. Mathematics achievement decreased in the order of (1) high spatial -low verbal group, (2) low spatial - low verbal group, (3) high spatial - high verbal group, (4) low spatial - high verbal group.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.159-171
• /
• 2014

Spatial ability has been valued as one component of intelligence and as an talented domain. And it is associated with the achievements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. So, the instrument for measuring spatial ability is very important. The purpose of this study is to develop Spatial Visualization Tests for Elementary School Children and examine internal consistency reliability evidence and construct validity evidence on confirmatory factor analysis of that instrument. For this purpose, 'The Spatial Visualization Tests for Elementary School Children was administered to 1482 Korean elementary school students. As a result, this study show that internal consistency reliability evidence using Cronbach' alpha showed item consistency and construct validity evidence from confirmatory factor analysis in the Spatial Visualization Tests for Elementary School Children. And also, this study show ed that item difficulty and item discrimination of the Spatial Visualization Tests for Elementary School Children were within an acceptable range.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.345-355
• /
• 2013

While virtual field trips (VFT) are considered as an attractive alternative to traditional field experience, it is unclear how VFT are best used in Earth Science curriculum. In this study, we investigated the effects of flash panorama-based VFT on students' spatial visualization ability and their understanding of volcanic concept in high school Earth Science class. To investigate the effects of instructional treatment, we conducted pre and post-test on participants' spatial visualization ability and their understanding of volcanic concept, and analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and linear regression. Findings are as follows: First, the change in students' spatial visualization ability in experimental group was significantly higher than that of control group, especially in spatial manipulation category. Second, the change in students' understanding of volcanic concept in experimental group was higher than that of control group in most of the categories, but it is statistically not significant. Last, the change in correlation between spatial visualization ability and understanding of volcanic concept in experimental group was remarkably high compared to control group.

• Journal of the Korean earth science society
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.162-172
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of flash panorama-based virtual field trips (VFT) as a supporting tool for geological field activity on middle school students' spatial visualization ability, conceptual understanding, and perceptions. A total of 17 middle school students participated in a three day long actual geological field trip around Jeju Island where a three-phase instructional model is applied for utilization of flash panorama-based VFT, which was proposed by Kim and Lee (2011). With one-group pretest-posttest pre-experimental design, data were collected using questionnaire and were analyzed to find out a change in students' spatial visualization ability and volcanic concept understanding, and their perceptions about the utilization of flash panorama-based VFT. Findings are as follows: First, the effect of utilizing flash panorama-based VFT in actual field trip revealed that there was meaningful increase in 'spatial relation' category of spatial visualization ability and 'knowledge' and 'comprehension' domains of volcanic concept understanding. Second, majority of students showed positive gain index in both spatial visualization ability and volcanic concept understanding. Lastly, participating students showed much interest and high satisfaction, and positive perception on the use of VFT. They also perceived that the utilization of flash panorama-based VFT could help in carrying out an actual field trip in terms of cognitive and geographical factors.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
• /
• 2009.05a
• /
• pp.1647-1651
• /
• 2009

The uncertainty or imprecision associated with vague parameters and weighting sets, reduces the ability to decide what alternative is better for a particular location. To efficiently reduce the effect of imprecision frequently arising in available information, fuzzy theory has been used to improve consideration of imprecision in a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) problem. Fuzzy logic offers a way to represent and handle imprecision present in continuous real world applications. A GIS implementing fuzzy set theory, (referred to in this paper as the "Spatial Fuzzy Approach") enables decision makers to express imprecise concepts associated with geographic data and provides decision makers the ability to have even more definition and discrimination in terms of the best alternatives for a particular spatial location. This study is focused on addressing questions pertaining to the methodology of floodplain analysis using GIS and Spatial Fuzzy MCDA to evaluate flood damage reduction alternatives. The issues will be examined in a case study of the Suyoung River Basin in Pusan, Korea.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.125-134
• /
• 2006

During the prenatal period, the development of the individual is influenced by a host of environmental factors. Exposure to noise stress during pregnancy was determined to result in the retardation of growth, a reduction in neurogenesis, and an impairment of spatial learning ability in the rat pups. In the present study, we have attempted to characterize the effects of prenatal treatment with Cnidium officinale Makino on spatial memory and neurogenesis in the hippocampus of rat pups born from maternal rats exposed to noise stress during pregnancy. Prenatal treatment with Cnidium officinale Makino was shown to increase neurogenesis and enhanced spatial learning ability in rat pups born from maternal rats exposed to noise stress. In this study, we have determined that prenatal treatment with Cnidium officinale Makino can stimulate spatial development and neurogenesis in the brain of the fetuses exposed to prenatal stresses.

• Journal of Elementary Mathematics Education in Korea
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.359-388
• /
• 2012

The study aims to extract the framework of sub-factors of spatial sense, to develop test instruments based on the framework to investigate the actual spatial sense ability of fourth to sixth graders in elementary school and to analyze the results. According to the framework of sub-factors of spatial sense of the study, spatial sense has two factors of spatial visualization and spatial orientation. Spatial visualization is divided into mental rotation, mental transformation and figure-ground perception while spatial orientation is categorized into direction sense, distance sense, and location sense. Based on the framework, the test instrument for spatial sense ability was developed and the test was conducted to 430 fourth to sixth students in five elementary schools in capital areas. The following conclusions were drawn from the results obtained in the study. Firstly, the higher school year gets, the more spatial sense grows. However, spatial visualization is developed much more than spatial orientation and their order is reversed with higher graders. Secondly, the most insufficient abilities among fourth to sixth elementary school students' spatial sense were mental transformation of spatial visualization and location sense of spatial orientation. Thirdly, the reasons of differences in sub-factors of spatial sense and graders seem to be from effects of students' learning experiences of spatial sense of mathematics curriculum and the complexities of test items.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.42-50
• /
• 2015

In spite that spatial ability has been recognized as an important element of academic achievement in engineering studies, researches on the topic are rather limited in Korea. In this study, the relationship between spatial visualization skill and academic achievement of engineering students was investigated based on the several variables such as gender, high school education background and college course achievement. The result showed that there were significant relevance between spatial visualization skill and gender, high school type, achievement of high school level math & physics, and college course work grade of computer graphic and capstone design. According the case study, from the entry time of engineering college, support programs to reinforce spatial visualization skill are required for lower skill groups such as female and graduate from art course in high school. Also, college curriculum such as Engineering graphics, Capstone design are substantial to improve spatial visualization skill. However, more diversified sample groups and research methods are required in order to draw in depth results.

• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
• /
• v.41 no.5
• /
• pp.371-390
• /
• 2021

The purpose of this study is to develop a neuropsychological model for the spatial ability factor and to divide the brain active area involved in the light & shadow problem solving process into the domain-general ability and the domain-specific ability based on the neuropsychological model. Twenty-four male college students participated in the study to measure the synchronized eye movement and electroencephalograms (EEG) while they performed the spatial ability test and the light & shadow tasks. Neuropsychological model for the spatial ability factor and light & shadow problem solving process was developed by integrating the measurements of the participants' eye movements, brain activity areas, and the interview findings regarding their thoughts and strategies. The results of this study are as follows; first, the spatial visualization and mental rotation factors mainly required activation of the parietal lobe, and the spatial orientation factor required activation of the frontal lobe. Second, in the light & shadow problem solving process, participants use both their spatial ability as a domain-general thought, and the application of scientific principles as a domain-specific thought. The brain activity patterns resulting from a participants' inferring the shadow by parallel light source and inferring the shadow when the direction of the light changed were similar to the neuropsychological model for the spatial visualization factor. The brain activity pattern from inferring an object from its shadow by light from multiple directions was similar to the neuropsychological model for the spatial orientation factor. The brain activity pattern from inferring a shadow with a point source of light was similar to the neuropsychological model for the spatial visualization factor. In addition, when solving the light & shadow tasks, the brain's middle temporal gyrus, precentral gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus were additionally activated, which are responsible for deductive reasoning, working memory, and planning for action.