Abstract

This paper is focused on how spatial learners perform on regular and constrained puzzles in an online scientific game. We used UNTANGLED, an interactive game to conduct the study presented in this manuscript. Players were presented a set of puzzles in both regular and constrained versions. The motivation behind this study was to examine the success rate of spatial learners in regular and constrained settings of the same puzzles. Our results suggest that spatially intelligent participants who played both regular and constrained puzzle format of the same game showed significant differences at the p=.05 level, indicating a level of spatial intelligence that is unprecedented. These participants showed signs of spatial intelligence necessary to solve electrical engineering problems. Our findings suggest a valuable use for electronic puzzles/games to determine which students are spatially intelligent, and potentially suited to engineering. In addition, teachers could use the data from spatially directed puzzles to challenge students to heighten levels of spatial intelligence by using puzzles in non-STEM environments.