Can Virtual Reality improve your spatial ability? Oh, and also get more women into STEM?
Stereo-typically my spatial awareness is pretty ordinary. So, it’s a given that Google Maps is one of my best friends. Prior to that driving a car whilst trying to read a map in order to arrive at the correct destination and on time (important distinction this) was something I preferred just a little above sticking a fork into my eye.
So, yesterday while user testing a virtual learning environment for construction which we are building at Snobal, I started wondering if VR has the potential to enhance the ability of physical world spatial ‘low performers’ like me?
For the record, spatial ability can broadly be defined as the ability to mentally manipulate geometric information including 2D and 3D objects.
I went looking at the what the research says.
Physical World Spatial ability — nature or nurture?
It seems to be commonly understood that men are generally better at spatial awareness than women. But there are questions about if this is to do with nature or nurture.
Chris Smith of the The Institute of Continuing Education Cambridge University reports on a study by Moshe Hoffman, from the University of California San Diego.
Hoffman’s spatial ability study researched 1,600 participants in 8 Northeastern Indian villages ( the Khasi and the Karbi tribes, two culturally diverse but genetically related tribes) asking them to solve four-piece jigsaw puzzle. The Khasi are a matrilineal society — women inherit and own the land — the Karbi are patrilineal society — where men inherit and own the land.
What they found was a major difference between the Khasi and the Karbi tribes. With the Khasi tribe (matrilineal society) there was no reported gender difference — men and women performed equally well on the test. In contrast, the Karbi tribe (patrilineal society)saw a gender difference. Karbi men solved the problem approx 1.5 times faster than women.
“We can guess. Based on the existing literature we know things like… training, and relevant experience matter” — Moshe Hoffman, University of California San Diego
In short, women’s understood poor performance on spatial ability maybe more to do with nurture than nature.
As Ariella Lehrer, Cognitive Psychologist and CEO of Legacy Interactive/Legacy Games writes on her blog about the issue and potential reasons for this:
From infancy, boys are given toys to take apart and reassemble, while girls are given dolls and animals.
VR and spatial ability enhancement
Interestingly it also appears that VR can potentially be used to enhance spatial ability.
Lehrer reports how research has shown that some types of spatial training can be effective in eliminating the gender gap.
She refers to a 2013 research study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning exploring 3D VR technology for spatial ability and chemistry achievement which found that:
“ students classified as having poor spatial ability showed significantly greater improvement in understanding the 3-D nature of molecules if they did relevant activities in a 3-D virtual world than those students who only worked with 2-D images.” — Merchant et al 2013
How does all this relate to perhaps helping get more women and girls into STE(A)M?
As Hoffman writes in his study women remain significantly underrepresented in STE(A)M with their assumed spatial ability differences, blamed “partly responsible for this gap”.
Perhaps VR experiences have the potential to provide a platform for women and girls to practice and enhance their spatial ability in a safe, non-judgmental environment. Perhaps as VR become more prevalent and is commonly experienced in everyday life from education and learning, eCommerce and entertainment, women and girls will have more opportunity to enhance their spatial awareness and perhaps by doing so in time level the assumed spatial-ability gender differences.
What’s your thoughts? Share below. And if you are researching VR and learning would be great to connect. Comment or ping below.
