■空间能力(SA)显示出广泛的变异性。对SA中观察到的个体差异的一种拟议解释是兴趣和参与促进空间能力的活动的变异性。研究还有力地表明,在SA的大多数方面,男性平均表现优于女性。以前的研究已经确定了一些可能导致SA个体和性别差异的活动,包括修补电子产品,特别的体育活动,和设计。然而,关于这些联系的发现是不一致的。调查这些联系的一种方法是比较那些积极参与这些活动的群体。
■本研究旨在通过比较具有STEM专业知识的青少年SA来评估这些链接的稳健性,arts,和体育,与他们未被选中的同龄人。我们还旨在评估专家组中是否仍然存在SA的性别差异。
■十项小规模SA测试的数据是在未经选择的青少年样本中收集的(N=864,平均年龄=15.4,SD=1.1);以及3个具有STEM专业知识的青少年样本(N=667,平均年龄=15,SD=1.2);艺术(N=280,平均年龄=15,SD=1.2)和体育(N=444,SD=14.3)。
■在三个专家组中,在所有SA任务中,只有STEM专家的平均表现优于未选择的组。STEM专家的表现也优于艺术和体育专家。所有专家组都存在性别差异,具有适度的效果大小。
■研究结果支持先前在空间能力和STEM相关专业知识之间建立的联系。相比之下,没有发现艺术和体育专业知识的这种联系。与以前的研究一致,我们发现所有样本的SA存在性别差异,坚持STEM专家。
UNASSIGNED: Spatial ability (SA) shows wide variability. One proposed explanation for the observed individual difference in SA is variability in interest and engagement in activities that promote spatial ability. Research also robustly shown that males on average outperform females in most aspects of SA. Previous studies have identified a number of activities that can potentially contribute to both individual and gender differences in SA, including tinkering with electronics, particular sports activities, and designing. However, the findings regarding these links are inconsistent. One way to investigate these links is to compare the groups that are intensively engaged with these activities.
UNASSIGNED: The present study aims to evaluate the robustness of these links by comparing SA in adolescents with expertise in STEM, arts, and sports, with their unselected peers. We also aimed to assess whether gender differences in SA are still present in expert groups.
UNASSIGNED: The data on ten small-scale SA tests was collected in an unselected sample of adolescents (N = 864, Mean age = 15.4, SD = 1.1); as well as in 3 samples of adolescents with expertise in STEM (N = 667, Mean age = 15, SD = 1.2); in Arts (N = 280, Mean age = 15, SD = 1.2) and in Sports (N = 444, Mean age = 14.3, SD = 0.7).
UNASSIGNED: Out of the three expert groups, only STEM experts on average outperformed the unselected group on all SA tasks. The STEM experts also outperformed Arts and Sports experts. Gender differences persisted in all expert groups, with moderate effect sizes.
UNASSIGNED: Findings support previously established links between spatial ability and STEM-related expertise. In contrast, such links were not found for expertise in arts and sports. Consistent with previous research, we found gender differences in SA for all samples, which persisted in STEM experts.