Problematising And Framing Spatial Research In Engineering Education

Spatial research has experienced a surge in popularity across the global community in recent years, with an undeniable rise in the favourability of spatial thinking approaches in academic and higher education settings. An engineer’s spatial ability is dependent on their capacity to engage a set of cognitive skills to visualise, reason and communicate spatial relations between objects and space. With the recent growth in popularity around spatial research, new spatial terms are frequently introduced resulting in a definitional overlap between terms and ideas. This may sometimes result in a lack of clarity regarding spatial terms and definitions, with the definitions of such terms varying amongst the literature. The eight most researched spatial terms over the last ten years are included in this study: Spatial Ability, Spatial Skills, Spatial Intelligence, Spatial Visualisation, Spatial Literacy, Spatial Reasoning, Spatial Factors and Spatial Thinking. A review of literature supported the unpacking of spatial terms and related research and the subsequent synthesis of the same. Particular focus centred on the various definitions and conceptualizations of these terms, as well as the contexts in which they are used to improve the accuracy, validity, and value of spatial analysis and its potential applications across different fields and disciplines. This paper aims to unpack and synthesise the various interpretations and dimensions of spatial competencies in the body of international research, ensuring that the pertinent research information is more readily accessible to practicing engineering educators