Measurement of geospatial thinking abilities and the factors affecting them

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Since the publication of the National Research Council's report entitled "Learning to Think Spatially" in 2006, spatial thinking has been attracting attention in the fields of geographic information science and geography education. Recently, several tests for measuring spatial thinking abilities in geographical contexts have been developed. Nevertheless, the reliability of these tests and the relationship between the test questions and the components of geospatial thinking are not clear. In addition, few attempts have been made to investigate the effect of various factors, including behaviors and interests in daily life, on test scores. This study aims to improve the geospatial thinking ability test and examine the various factors affecting test scores. The test used in this study is a revision of the Spatial Thinking Ability Test developed by Lee and Bednarz (2012). Six question items were selected by considering the independence and representativeness of the components of the geospatial abilities; anonymous materials were used to distinguish between the respondents' geospatial skills and their prior knowledge. The results obtained from a sample of 90 university students showed a low correlation between the scores for the six question items. The scores for three question items (spatial patterns, spatial correlation, and landscape visualization) were closely related to the students' interest in geography and maps, as well as their sense of direction. In particular, their experience and expertise in geography at school was evident in the specific components of geospatial thinking abilities.

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