University of Glasgow launches Turner Kirk Center for Spatial Reasoning in a bid to boost math performance in Scotland
The University of Glasgow has launched the Turner Kirk Center for Spatial Reasoning to roll out a new cost-effective teaching method for math.
Based at the University of Glasgow, the center will run a national pilot across Scotland with educators, schools and 17 local authorities to help teach spatial learning. It aims to reach 40 percent of Scottish classrooms by 2028.
“Every child should have the opportunity to succeed in STEM, but until now, there seemed to be no cheap, scalable, and highly effective method for making this a reality,” explains Ewan Kirk, co-founder of the Turner Kirk Trust. “That’s why we backed the experimental pilot project that kicked this off – and why we’ll continue to support it as it cements itself as a transformative, nationwide teaching model.”
The centre builds on the success of the STEM Spatial Cognition Enhancement Project, led by the University of Glasgow, which has already shown that applying spatial learning into some math lessons improves performance in the subject by an average of 20 percent.
Quintin Cutts, Director of the Turner Kirk Centre for Spatial Reasoning, adds: “Research has shown that those with stronger spatial reasoning tend to progress further in maths and in STEM careers generally.
“With the STEM SPACE project, we hope to show that children who learn spatial reasoning skills from an early age are better-prepared to perform well in maths and related subjects as they move through secondary education. That, in turn, will help Scotland maintain the stream of highly-qualified graduates that the country needs to shape a better future for all of us.
The Turner Kirk Centre for Spatial Reasoning is funded by the Turner Kirk Trust, a charitable trust that supports experimental initiatives in STEM. The pilot is also backed by funding from the Scottish Government.
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