Mental rotation (MR) ability can be improved with experience, including experience which comes from college chemistry classes (Sharobeam, 2016).  The directionality of chemistry and its relation to MR ability is unclear as to whether developed ability and skills leads people to stick with chemistry, or whether chemistry experience increase MR ability.  Regardless of the directionality, research is mixed as to whether existing chemistry experience can reduce sex differences in performance between men and women, as some data has found that previous chemistry experience at the college level, equalizes performance on MR tasks (Brownlow & Miderski, 2002), while others show that men outperform women regardless of academic backgrounds (Bodner & Guay, 1997; Coleman & Gotch, 1998).  Approximately 60 undergraduate men and women with physical science, life science, or non-science majors participated in the study.  Participants were presented with 10 MR tasks from the Purdue Visualizations of Rotations Test (PVRT; Bodner & Guay, 1997) through KwikSurveys.  The tasks provided examples of three-dimensional objects before and after rotation.  The question then presented a different object and asked participants to rotate it in the same way and choose the correct answer from five options.  Participants were asked to rate their thoughts of the task and were asked to give insight as to their academic background in college level science courses.  Participant performance was evaluated on number of correctly completed tasks, and self-report questions about the task and participant background were also considered.

Can experience with physical vs. life sciences predict mental rotation ability?

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.