Making pedagogy for spatial literacy: a case study of an origami workshop in an after-school makerspace

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by OmBimo

Spatial skills are fundamental to STEM, involving visualising, reasoning, and communicating about spatial relations. For primary learners, what counts as “spatial literacy” remains insufficiently defined, and pedagogy for spatial skills is limited, with many training approaches resembling psychometric tests. This study examines which skills and knowledge matter most and how instruction can support spatial literacy. Using maker education, it reports a research-through-design case study of a theoretically informed origami workshop, analysing its implementation in an after-school makerspace programme and deriving recommendations for further research.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The Importance of Spatial Skills

Exploring spatial literacy through origami in maker education

Making pedagogy for spatial literacy: a case study of an origami workshop in an after-school makerspace Marten B. Westerhof, Technological University Dublin, Ireland Colm O’Kane, Technological University Dublin, Ireland Gavin Duffy, Technological University Dublin, Ireland Abstract Spatial skills are crucial to STEM disciplines and involve a variety of cognitive processes and skills related to visualising, reasoning and communicating about spatial relations. Particularly in the primary school years, attaining ‘spatial literacy’ gives children a valuable set of skills and knowledge that can aid them in successful participation in STEM subjects. However, it is poorly understood what constitutes spatial literacy for primary school age children. Furthermore, research into pedagogy for spatial skills is limited, with training interventions often resembling psychometric tests. Therefore, it is pertinent to explore which spatial skills and knowledge are most important for primary school age children to develop and how pedagogy could look to help children to attain spatial literacy. Maker education provides an integrated and designbased approach to learning in which children could practise spatial skills and knowledge by applying it in a creative way. Origami provides a particularly interesting medium to explore these questions as it has previously been used successfully to train psychometrically assessed spatial skills. This paper details a ‘research through design’ case study of the development of a theoretically informed origami workshop and its implementation in a makerspace during an after-school makerspace programme. The origami workshop and its pedagogical qualities are described and the implementation of the origami workshop in an after-school makerspace is analysed in light of spatial literacy. These findings are discussed and contextualised withinsights from the literature. Finally, several recommendations for further research on spatial literacy for primary school age children, specifically in the context of maker education, are made. Keywords Spatial skills, spatial literacy, maker education, origami, STEM learning Introduction The Importance of Spatial Skills Spatial thinking is an umbrella term for a set of abilities and skills that are the product of a complex interplay of sensory, cognitive, and motor processes, which are pervasive throughout our everyday lives (Maresch & Sorby, 2021) . As a consequence, spatial thinking is not like a subject onto itself, but rather an important skill across myriad disciplines, and it is a particularly essential component of success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Wai et al., 2009) . Most of the literature on spatial thinking, particularly that showing its relevance to education, is characterised by use of the psychometric construct of spatial ability. Spatial ability is defined as the ability to manipulate and transform mental representations of objects in space. Myriad studies have highlighted the positive effect of training interventions on children’s (Hawes et al., 2017; Lowrie et al., 2017) and adults’ (Sorby, 2009) performance on psychometric tests. However, there is a significant gap between this body of literature and educational practice (Hawes et al., 2017) . For example, training studies, often written from a developmental psychology perspective, rarely consider pedagogy explicitly (Adams et al., 2022) . Therefore, spatial literacy is a crucial addition to the literature, particularly from an educational perspective, although it has only received a limited amount of attention in the literature. The authors of the ‘Learning to Think Spatially’ report describe spatial literacy as‘constituting proficiency in terms of spatial knowledge, spatial ways of thinking and acting, and spatial capabilities’ (National Academies Press (U.S. ), 2006, p. 18) . Since the report, spatial literacy has been conceptualised as an amalgam o

FAQs

What is the role of spatial skills in STEM education?

Spatial skills support success across STEM disciplines because they include the cognitive processes needed to visualise, reason, and communicate spatial relations.

Why is the concept of spatial literacy important for primary students?

Spatial literacy helps clarify what children should know and be able to do with space for STEM learning, yet it is still poorly understood for primary-age learners.

How does the study use origami to address spatial literacy?

The study develops and implements a theoretically informed origami workshop in an after-school makerspace, analysing its pedagogical qualities in relation to spatial literacy.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by OmBimo