Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Spatial Ability And Achievement In High School Physics, Michael Shawn Liner

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigates the relationship between a student’s spatial abilities and their success in high school physics. First, I investigate whether the success of students in high school physics class correlates with their spatial abilities before taking the class. Second, I investigate whether taking high school physics has an effect on student’s spatial abilities. No direct intervention was given to any of the students. Three instruments were administered to determine the student’s spatial abilities, The Perspective Taking/Spatial Orientation Test (Hegarty & Waller, 2004), The Mental Rotation Test (Peters & Laeng, 1995), and The Paper Folding Test (Ekstrom, French, Harmon, & …