Data Sheet 1_A STEM-based learning trajectory for developing spatial reasoning in 8-year-old children: online and face-to-face implementations.pdf

The trajectory has as an end product the design of an evacuation route. Based on a framework integrating spatial reasoning actions, reference frames, and the differentiation of micro-, meso- and macrospaces, the trajectory tasks combine concrete resources (measuring tools, recycled materials) with digital ones (e.g., Google Maps, Google Earth, LightBot) so that students can analyze representations, measure distances, as well as construct and test instruments and artifacts (e.g., a seismograph) not usually included in the primary school curriculum.

It is designed to help students articulate and move between different spatial sizes and their representations and use adequate measuring instruments for each. Within a design-based research (DBR) study, the trajectory was implemented with groups of children from a disadvantaged context in Mexico, in two phases and in different modalities: online, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and face-to-face the following year. We describe the pedagogical framework, learning environment, and trajectory design, and report results derived from the analysis of the implementation data –video and audio recordings, photos and student productions.