1. Steve Coxon Editorial assistant, Journal for the Education of the Gifted Ph.D. Student, The College of William and Mary’s Center for Gifted Education http://stevecoxon.com http://cfge.wm.edu/ coxonsteve@hotmail.com Activities to Challenge the Spatially Gifted

2. What is spatial ability? Spatial ability is a construct that characterizes a human difference in “the ability to generate, retain, retrieve, and transform well-structured visual images” (Lohman, 1994, p. 1000, as quoted in Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009).

3. Why does spatial ability matter? High spatial ability is predictive of STEM success (Webb, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2007) Innovations from STEM fields improve our quality of life and are responsible for the majority of economic growth in the U.S. (National Academy of Education, 2009), There is an ever-increasing need for highly- educated people capable of STEM innovation (Shea, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2001; Snow, 1999; Webb, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2007).

4. Why does spatial ability matter? While employers expect to hire 2.5 million STEM workers between 2004 and 2014 (Terrell, 2007), there is a national shortage of students graduating from institutions of higher education with degrees in many important STEM fields (American Competitiveness Initiative, 2006). People in STEM fields earned about 70% more than the U. S. average in 2005 (Terrell, 2007),

5. Need for Challenging the Spatially Gifted Students with spatial gifts are neglected in school curricula and instruction and thus are rarely challenged in their talent area (Silverman, 2005; Webb, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2007).

6. Need for Challenging the Spatially Gifted Students with spatial gifts tend to be undereducated and underemployed as adults compared to students with similar gifts in mathematical and verbal areas (Mann, 2006). Spatially gifted students tend to have lower educational aspirations and less motivation to perform than gifted math students (Webb, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2007).

7. Typical school subjects involving spatial ability Geometry Geography Physics Chemistry

8. Some occupations involving spatial ability The visual and performing arts Design (from graphic to industrial) Engineering Surgery Dentistry Computer science Surveying and cartography Mechanics Architecture Physical sciences Robotics (Shea, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2001; Snow, 1999; Wai, et al., 2009; Webb, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2007)

9. Today’s Menu Craft stick and binder clip towers Google Maps LEGO WeDo robotics

10. Take fifteen minutes to build the tallest freestanding tower that you can. You have 30 sticks and 15 small binder clips. You may not use any other items. You may not break sticks or dismantle clips. Two to three feet is a good start.

16. What processes did this building activity require?

18. Google Maps

19. LEGO WeDo

21. Aimed at 6-9-year-olds to engineer and program Comes with step-by-step directions for a number of models, but, like other LEGO products, has unlimited room for creative building Can be tied in with other subjects, especially science Similar to NXT, but significantly scaled down for a younger user One motor, two sensors: tilt and motion Now a part of the Junior FIRST LEGO League

22. WeDo demonstration

23. Resources http://www.childrensengineering.com/ (based in Richmond, hosts an annual conference in February)http://www.childrensengineering.com/ http://www.legoeducation.us/sharedimages/reso urces/WeDo%20User's%20Guide.pdf (a free, 41 page teacher’s guide to LEGO WeDo)http://www.legoeducation.us/sharedimages/reso urces/WeDo%20User's%20Guide.pdf http://maps.google.com/ http://www.esri.com/industries/k-12/index.html (GIS for schools)http://www.esri.com/industries/k-12/index.html http://makezine.com/ and http://www.instructables.com/ (two Great sites for building just about anything)http://makezine.com/ http://www.instructables.com/ * http://www.academicearth.org/ (free, online video classes from leading universities)http://www.academicearth.org/

24. “Ninety-nine percent of the discoveries are made by one percent of the scientists.” -Julius Axelrod (as cited in NAS, 2005, p. ix)