This research used a spatial skills test and cognitive-mapping test to examine the effect of GIS learning on the spatial ability and spatial problem solving of college students. A total of 80 participants, undergraduate students at Texas A&M University, completed pre- and post- spatial skills tests administered during the 2003 fall semester. Analysis of changes in the students’ test scores revealed that GIS learning could help students improve their spatial ability. Strong correlations existed between the participants’ spatial ability and their performance in the GIS course. The research also found that spatial ability improvement linked to GIS learning was not significantly related to differences in gender or to academic major (geography majors vs. science and engineering majors). A total of 64 participants, recruited from students enrolled in Introduction to GIS and Computer Cartography at Texas A&M University, completed pre- and post- cognitive-mapping tests administered during the 2003 fall semester. Students’ performance on the cognitive-mapping test was used to measure their spatial problem solving. The study assumed that the analysis of the individual map-drawing strategies would reveal information about the cognitive processes participants used to solve their spatial tasks. The participants were requested to draw a map that could help their best friends find their way to three nearby commercial locations. The map-drawing process was videotaped in order to allow the researcher to classify subjects’ map-drawing strategies. The study identified two distinctive map-drawing strategies: hierarchical and regional. Strategies were classified as hierarchical when subjects began by drawing the main road network across the entire map, and as regional when they completed mapping sub-areas before moving on to another sub-area. After completion of a GIS course, a significant number of participants (about half) changed their map-drawing strategies. However, more research is necessary to address why these changes in strategy came about.

The cognitive factors of spatial ability, human-computer interaction, problem solving ability, and geographic attitude have been recognized as relevant to teaching and learning GIS. The goal of this research was to examine these cognitive abilities in university students taking an introductory course in GIS; examine any changes in these abilities after completing the class; and examine the relationship between those abilities and the students’ grades in the class. It was hypothesized that students with higher cognitive ability scores would have higher grades than students with lower cognitive ability scores. Nine different self-report surveys were used to assess the students’ spatial, computer, problem solving, and geographic cognitive abilities. The surveys were administered at the beginning and end of the two academic semesters. Analysis of the students’ scores revealed a significant improvement on four of the nine cognitive ability surveys; one that measured computer experience and three that measured spatial ability. Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses were used to measure the relationship between the students’ scores on the cognitive ability surveys and the students’ grades. Students received grades on lecture exams, lab exercises, individual projects, and an overall grade. Only two of the bivariate correlations were statistically significant: the factors of geography attitude and learning style were significantly correlated with the students’ project grade. Multiple regression analysis also revealed a very weak relationship, explaining less than 20 percent of the variance between the scores on the cognitive ability surveys and the students’ lecture grade, lab grade, and overall grade. However, a much stronger relationship, explaining more than 45% of the variance, existed between the cognitive ability surveys and the students’ project grade. These findings suggest that cognitive processes utilized for traditional classroom learning to pass lecture exams are different than those utilized to learn the software skills necessary to complete a GIS project. Therefore, it was concluded that the cognitive ability scores are poor predictors of grades related to traditional classroom learning such as lecture exams; however, these scores are more useful as predictors of the grades on a GIS project.

This research used a spatial skills test and cognitive-mapping test to examine the effect of GIS learning on the spatial ability and spatial problem solving of college students. A total of 80 participants, undergraduate students at Texas A&M University, completed pre- and post- spatial skills tests administered during the 2003 fall semester. Analysis of changes in the students’ test scores revealed that GIS learning could help students improve their spatial ability. Strong correlations existed between the participants’ spatial ability and their performance in the GIS course. The research also found that spatial ability improvement linked to GIS learning was not significantly related to differences in gender or to academic major (geography majors vs. science and engineering majors). A total of 64 participants, recruited from students enrolled in Introduction to GIS and Computer Cartography at Texas A&M University, completed pre- and post- cognitive-mapping tests administered during the 2003 fall semester. Students’ performance on the cognitive-mapping test was used to measure their spatial problem solving. The study assumed that the analysis of the individual map-drawing strategies would reveal information about the cognitive processes participants used to solve their spatial tasks. The participants were requested to draw a map that could help their best friends find their way to three nearby commercial locations. The map-drawing process was videotaped in order to allow the researcher to classify subjects’ map-drawing strategies. The study identified two distinctive map-drawing strategies: hierarchical and regional. Strategies were classified as hierarchical when subjects began by drawing the main road network across the entire map, and as regional when they completed mapping sub-areas before moving on to another sub-area. After completion of a GIS course, a significant number of participants (about half) changed their map-drawing strategies. However, more research is necessary to address why these changes in strategy came about.

This research investigated whether completing an introductory GIS course affects college students' spatial literacy as defined by spatial habits of mind, spatial concepts and thinking skills, and critical spatial thinking. This study employed three tests (spatial habits of mind inventory, spatial concepts and skills test, critical spatial thinking oral test) to measure students' performance on these three elements. Furthermore, this research investigated the relationship among the components. Pre- and post-tests were conducted at the beginning and the end of the 2010 fall semester, and Texas A&M undergraduate students participated in the research. The following four research questions were examined. The first research question investigated whether GIS learning improves spatial habits of mind (n = 168). Five sub-dimensions of spatial habits of mind (pattern recognition, spatial description, visualization, spatial concept use, and spatial tool use) were identified. Overall, GIS students' spatial habits of mind were enhanced. However, variations existed when considering students' performance by dimension. The second research question explored whether GIS learning affects students' understanding and use of spatial concepts and thinking skills (n = 171). This research found that the GIS course was beneficial in improving students' spatial cognition. Students increased their understanding of key spatial concepts and applied conceptual understanding into wider contexts with advanced spatial thinking skills. The third research question examined the effects of a GIS course through interviews on the three sub-dimensions of critical spatial thinking: data reliability, spatial reasoning, and problem-solving validity (n = 32). The quantitative analyses indicated that participants developed their ability regarding these three sub-dimensions of critical spatial thinking. In particular, their ability to assess data reliability and problem-solving validity improved, an effect not likely to be enhanced by other coursework. Findings from qualitative thematic analysis confirmed these quantitative outcomes. The final research question probed the relationships among the three components of spatial literacy. Pearson?s correlation coefficient, a 3D space (termed "score space" in this study), a test for independence, and an exploratory factor analysis suggested that the three components are positively correlated. However, more research is necessary to confirm the results reported in this study.