Designing a Model of Teaching Competencies based on Teachers' Spatial Reasoning – A Meta Synthesis Approach

Introduction: Spatial thinking is a cognitive process that integrates concepts of space, representation tools, and reasoning processes. It serves as the foundation for spatial reasoning, which is defined as the ability to mentally manipulate objects and understand their relationships. To effectively utilize spatial reasoning, individuals must acquire and employ a set of related skills. Proficiency in spatial abilities significantly influences an individual's potential for academic achievement, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) fields. Since understanding many STEM concepts involves comprehending and manipulating objects in space, STEM education necessitates a strong foundation in spatial reasoning skills.
One way to strengthen the connection between spatial cognition and STEM learning is through the spatialization of the curriculum. This approach involves designing new curricular materials and providing teacher training to enhance the spatial aspects of content, methods, and delivery. To achieve this, educators need to develop competencies related to spatial reasoning. Teachers must acquire skills that enable them to design and teach scientific concepts using spatial reasoning, allowing them to present scientific ideas in a more understandable and accessible manner to a diverse range of students with varying interests and abilities. Consequently, students can apply these skills to solve scientific problems and address real-world challenges.
Given the importance of spatial thinking and reasoning in formal education, along with the current lack of emphasis on their explicit teaching, this study aims to identify the professional competencies required of teachers to deliver instruction based on spatial reasoning. The goal is to support the professional development of educators and promote the development of spatial thinking and reasoning skills among students.
Method: Given the research objective of "identifying the professional competencies required of teachers for spatial reasoning-based instruction," a meta-synthesis approach was used to discover the desired competencies in this area. To this end, the seven-step meta-synthesis process of Sandelowski and Barroso (2007) was followed:
Step 1: Formulating the research question The primary research question was: What are the components of the professional competencies required of teachers in spatial reasoning-based instruction?
Step 2: Systematic literature search
Step 3: Screening and selecting suitable qualitative studies:  635 sources were found using the indicated keywords. Each source was carefully reviewed by researchers, 170 sources with less relevance to the research question were eliminated after reviewing the titles. Additionally,, after reviewing the abstracts, 182 sources were discarded, leaving 283 sources.
Step 4: Critically appraising studies and extracting data: In this step, the methodological quality of the studies was examined, and the CASP[1] tool, was used. As a result, 25 sources were eliminated due to receiving poor or very poor scores from the review process, and of the remaining 258 sources, 40 sources received a moderate score and 218 sources received a good or very good score.
Step 5: Analyzing and transforming the findings of qualitative studies: In this step, the 258 selected and finalized sources were reviewed multiple times to identify the separate intra-content findings that the original studies had found, and themes were extracted. To identify themes, the main research question was used as a criterion, and a total of 19 basic themes were extracted.
Step 6: Validating the findings: Optimization methods for the validity of the findings of this meta-synthesis were considered in four descriptive, interpretive, theoretical, and pragmatic stages.
Step 7: Presenting the findings: Data analysis was conducted using thematic analysis. All factors extracted from the research were considered as themes. These themes were categorized based on concepts related to the concept of competency in spatial reasoning-based instruction into 19 basic themes, 3 organizing themes, and 1 overarching theme. The basic concepts were placed under 3 organizing themes: knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for teaching using spatial reasoning. The "knowledge" competency included 10 basic themes such as familiarity with terminology related to spatial reasoning, knowledge of the dimensions and components of spatial reasoning, awareness of the history of spatial reasoning, knowledge of the typology of spatial reasoning, understanding the processes and variables affecting spatial reasoning, awareness of basic psychological theories and cognitive processes, familiarity with research on visual-spatial abilities, and more. Additionally, the "skills" competency included 5 themes: visual-spatial skills, spatial reasoning ability, spatial reasoning skills in science, the ability to apply different approaches to teaching with spatial reasoning, and spatial reasoning assessment skills. Finally, the "attitude" competency encompassed 4 themes, including a tendency towards critical spatial reasoning, interest in consciously practicing spatial thinking, a positive attitude and beliefs towards using spatial reasoning in teaching, and a positive attitude towards spatial reasoning-based curricula. All these themes were placed under the overarching theme of "competencies for teaching using spatial reasoning."
Discussions and Conclusion: The overall objective of this study was to investigate the competencies required of teachers for spatial reasoning-based instruction. The results showed that these competencies can be categorized into 19 basic themes, 3 organizing themes, and one overarching theme. Teachers or instructors who intend to use spatial reasoning in their teaching need to acquire and develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes in this area. These findings can be used as a basis for developing training programs and improving the quality of teaching in the field of spatial reasoning. This study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the competencies required for teachers to effectively integrate spatial reasoning into their instruction.