Spatial ability is believed to be important in chemistry education. The purpose of this talk is twofold: 1) to present psychometric evidence to rule out possible test bias against females for a popular spatial ability instrument, and 2) to examine the relationship of spatial ability with general chemistry achievement and course grade in organic chemistry. We administered the Purdue Visualization of Rotations test (ROT) to students enrolled in a college chemistry course to measure mental rotation ability under a modified Lohman's classification framework. Results from psychometric analysis support using the ROT score to measure college students' mental rotation ability, including examination of difference by sex. Structural equation modeling results suggest that mental rotation ability exhibits a direct but trivial effect on general chemistry achievement when math ability is controlled, and no direct effect on organic chemistry course grades.

Spatial abililty and chemistry performance: Evaluation and application of a mental rotations test for college students

247th National Meeting (2014)

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