Designing a measurement tool for assessing spatial literacy in secondary education

This study aimed to develop a measurement tool to assess the spatial literacy levels of middle school students, integrating geographical and interdisciplinary components. Recognizing the increasing importance of spatial skills in contemporary education, particularly in STEM and social sciences, the study responds to the need for systematic evaluation of students' spatial competencies across subject areas. The study employed a mixed-methods approach during the scale development process. An initial item pool was generated through an extensive literature review, interviews with students and teachers, and expert review. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted with 435 students and identified a five-factor structure comprising Map Reading, Spatial Relationships, Mental Rotation, Spatial Perception, and Spatial Awareness. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), conducted with an independent sample of 347 students, indicated satisfactory model fit. Item-total correlations and internal consistency coefficients (Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega) provided evidence of internal consistency reliability. The research offers a theoretically grounded instrument for measuring spatial literacy in middle school contexts, which may inform future research on spatial literacy measurement, pending further validation in spatial literacy education. The study concludes by emphasizing the importance of fostering spatial competencies early in education to support interdisciplinary learning and spatial reasoning skills.