Enhancing Spatial Thinking and Visual Literacy in the Geosciences

Dear Colleagues,

Spatial thinking is an essential set of skills for people studying geoscience, as well as for the geoscience workforce (McLaughlin & Bailey, 2023; McNeal & Petcovic, 2020; Liben & Titus, 2012; Ormand et al., 2014). The geoscience community must promote techniques for developing students’ spatial skills and tools in order to measure progress in the development of spatial skills (Ryker et al., 2018). Although previous studies have focused on spatial skills for solid earth (Atit et al., 2020; Gold et al., 2018; Kreager et al., 2022; Shipley et al., 2013), recent work has broadened this focus to include fluid earth (McNeal & Petcovic, 2020) and the atmosphere (Burns & Davenport, 2025; McNeal et al. 2018; McNeal et al., 2019; Yoon & Min, 2016). Given the current need for an informed society, more research is needed on how spatial thinking may impact understanding of climate systems and natural hazards.

In recent decades, access to hand-held devices and virtual or augmented reality is pervasive. Early cognitive tests of spatial skills were administered via paper and pencil (French et al., 1963), but leading spatial cognition researchers have identified technological innovations in data collection methods as a critical next step in studying individual differences in spatial skills (Uttal et al., 2024). The widespread availability of various technologies enables innovations in the measurement and training of spatial skills.

We invite empirical contributions that focus on spatial skills measurement, as well as training that focuses on a wider range of geoscience topics, innovations in respect to measurement and/or data gathering, and/or the benefits of spatial training on various populations. We are especially interested in cross-disciplinary work that bridges geoscience education with cognitive science, learning analytics, and human–computer interaction.

The aim of this Special Issue is to advance our understanding of the spatial skills that are necessary for the geosciences, the measurement and evaluation of geospatial skills, and the training of spatial skills in geoscience education. As such, contributions should align with existing spatial frameworks, analysis and reporting standards, and current availability of the spatial tests used in the study (Uttal et al., 2024).

Contributions that explore these topics within formal and informal learning environments, industry settings, and the general public are welcome.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Reference

Atit, K., Uttal, D. H., & Stieff, M. (2020). Situating space: Using a discipline-focused lens to examine spatial thinking skills. Cognitive research: principles and implications, 5(1), 19.

Burns, L. E., & Davenport, C. E. (2025). Characterizing the Growth in Spatial Thinking Skills in Undergraduate Meteorology Students across the Curriculum. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 106(2), E275-E289.

French, J. W., Ekstrom, R. B., & Price, L. A. (1963). Manual for kit of reference tests for cognitive factors (revised 1963).

Gold, A. U., Pendergast, P. M., Ormand, C. J., Budd, D. A., & Mueller, K. J. (2018). Improving spatial thinking skills among undergraduate geology students through short online training exercises. International Journal of Science Education, 40(18), 2205-2225.

Gong, X., Xu, W., Yu, S., Ma, J., & Qiao, A. (2025). Enhancing computational thinking and spatial reasoning skills in gamification programming learning: A comparative study of tangible, block and paper‐and‐pencil tools. British Journal of Educational Technology, 56(1), 80-102.

Liben, L. S., & Titus, S. J. (2012). The importance of spatial thinking for geoscience education: Insights from the crossroads of geoscience and cognitive science.

Kreager, B. Z., LaDue, N. D., Shipley, T. F., Powell, R. D., & Hampton, B. A. (2022). Spatial skill predicts success on sequence stratigraphic interpretation. Geosphere, 18(2), 750-761.

McLaughlin, J. A., & Bailey, J. M. (2023). Students need more practice with spatial thinking in geoscience education: a systematic review of the literature. Studies in Science Education, 59(2), 147-204.

McNeal, P. M., & Petcovic, H. L. (2020). Spatial thinking and fluid Earth science education research. Journal of Geoscience Education, 68(4), 289-301.

McNeal, P. M., Petcovic, H. L., LaDue, N. D., & Ellis, T. D. (2019). Identifying Significant Cognitive Factors for Practicing and Learning Meteorology. Journal of Operational Meteorology, 7(1).

Ormand, C. J., Manduca, C., Shipley, T. F., Tikoff, B., Harwood, C. L., Atit, K., & Boone, A. P. (2014). Evaluating geoscience students' spatial thinking skills in a multi-institutional classroom study. Journal of Geoscience Education, 62(1), 146-154.

Ryker, K., Jaeger, A. J., Brande, S., Guereque, M., Libarkin, J., & Shipley, T. F. (2018). Research on cognitive domain in geoscience learning: Temporal and spatial reasoning.

Shipley, T. F., Tikoff, B., Ormand, C., & Manduca, C. (2013). Structural geology practice and learning, from the perspective of cognitive science. Journal of Structural Geology, 54, 72-84.

Uttal, D. H., McKee, K., Simms, N., Hegarty, M., & Newcombe, N. S. (2024). How can we best assess spatial skills? practical and conceptual challenges. Journal of Intelligence, 12(1), 8.

Yoon, S. Y., & Min, K. H. (2016). College students' performance in an introductory atmospheric science course: associations with spatial ability. Meteorological Applications, 23(3), 409-419.

Dr. Nicole D LaDue
Guest Editor

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• spatial thinking
• visualization
• geoscience education
• visual literacy
• spatial cognition