{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,16]],"date-time":"2026-02-16T16:32:49Z","timestamp":1771259569166,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,22]],"date-time":"2022-07-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1658448000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"FCT\u2014Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UIDB\/04683\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/04683\/2020"]}]},{"name":"FCT\u2014Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UIDP\/04683\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDP\/04683\/2020"]}]},{"name":"FCT\u2014Foundation for Science and Technology","award":["UIDB\/4255\/2020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["UIDB\/4255\/2020"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>(1) Background: spatial thinking is indirectly applied in numerous daily activities (e.g., when defining the route when going to school\/work) or in scientific areas (e.g., predicting the spatial\u2013temporal spread of contagious diseases), and its ability might be improved using geographical information systems (GIS). The main objective of this study was to perform an analysis of the spatial thinking of students in two curricular units (CUs) that had come from different background areas; (2) Methods: to that end, the Spatial Thinking Ability Test (STAT), composed of 15 multiple choice questions to measure spatial thinking, was given to 83 students before and after exposure to GIS concepts and software. Students\u2019 answers were analyzed question-by-question and as total scores. The statistical analysis was performed using the paired samples t-test, the independent samples t-test or the Mann\u2013Whitney statistical test and the nonparametric Kruskal\u2013Wallis test; (3) Results: an overall significant improvement was observed from the pre- to the post-test. Additionally, total scores were not significantly different between students of different CUs, courses, or genders; (4) Conclusions: this exploratory study can be considered as a support methodology for pedagogical didactics that have been implemented in the CUs and may be readily applied in other academic environments, namely with students from different backgrounds, countries, and teaching strategies, thus promoting the discussion of all such experiences and consequent improvement in geographical education.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi11080417","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,22]],"date-time":"2022-07-22T12:53:45Z","timestamp":1658494425000},"page":"417","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["Evaluation of Spatial Thinking Ability Based on Exposure to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Concepts in the Context of Higher Education"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7537-6606","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lia","family":"Duarte","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Geosciences, Environment and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8043-6431","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana Cl\u00e1udia","family":"Teodoro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Department of Geosciences, Environment and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6558-8966","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hern\u00e2ni","family":"Gon\u00e7alves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Community Medicine, Information and Health Decision Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Center for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS@RISE), Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"208","article-title":"An Evaluation of University World Geography Textbook Questions for Components of Spatial Thinking","volume":"113","author":"Scholz","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. 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