Student demographic characteristics of gender and race/ethnicity, students’ spatial-content knowledge as measured by pre-instructional performance on the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI) (Lindell & Olsen), and post-instructional performance on the Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test (PSVT) (Bodner & Guay, 1997), and teachers’ spatial-content knowledge as measured by the two assessments were considered to predict students’ overall understanding of lunar phases as measured by post-instructional results on the LPCI. A mixed modeling approach was used in a hierarchal manner to evaluate the student learning outcomes. Results showed that student gender was not a significant predictor of post-instructional student performance, but students who identified as “Other” for their race/ethnicity were shown to be a significant predictor. When considering pre-instructional spatial-content knowledge based on Wilhelm’s four spatial-mathematical domains, Periodic patterns and Spatial Projection were found to be significant predictors, but the domains of Geometric & Spatial Visualization and Cardinal Directions were not found to be significant predictors. Students’ post-instructional performance on the PSVT was found to be a significant predictor with student learning outcomes. Repeated Measures ANOVA tests showed that students’ gain scores on the LPCI were significantly different for six of the seven teachers under consideration.
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