1. Media Contact:
Jennifer Dobbs
jennifer_dobbs@redlands.edu
909-748-8857
University of Redlands receives its largest-ever NSF grant
Almost $700,000 awarded for research to empower students in STEM
Researchers at the University of Redlands have received a grant of almost $700,000 to educate and
empower students for success in STEM courses and careers by improving their spatial thinking and
computational skills at the elementary level.
The National Science Foundation awarded the highly competitive grant, which is the University’s
largest-ever NSF award, to Redlands as lead of the two-year pilot program, commencing Nov. 1,
2015, to develop and test spatial STEM+C (science, technology, engineering, mathematics plus
computing) activities in K-5 classrooms.
There is a consensus that the United States faces an unprecedented challenge to develop and
educate citizens who can enter the STEM workforce. President Obama announced in March 2015
more than $240 million in new commitments toward preparing children, “especially those from
underrepresented groups, to excel in STEM fields.”
The project will address visuospatial and computational skills needed for success in high-school and
college STEM courses. Visuospatial skills—those related to visual perception and manipulation of
the spatial relationships of objects—have been documented to vary by gender and may be
influenced by socioeconomic factors. The project seeks to develop instructional and assessment
strategies that are effective across socioeconomic categories and that work particularly well for
students who have been found to lag behind in visuospatial abilities at key grade levels.
“Spatial thinking has been identified as a contributor to success entering into STEM careers,” says
researcher Dr. Steven Moore, director of the Center for Spatial Studies at the University of
Redlands. “This Spatial STEM+C project builds on the unique emphasis of educational justice for

2. underrepresented children in our School of Education, and frames spatial thinking as an educational
justice issue. That creates a possibility to give young students support and helps level the playing
field for students seeking STEM careers.”
Joining Dr. Moore will be Redlands Prof. Gary Scott, a visiting faculty member in the School of
Education, who will work with Honey Libao, a doctoral candidate in the School of Education’s
educational justice program and teacher-on-assignment for elementary mathematics in the Redlands
Unified School District, to design games and challenges that promote development of the cognitive
abilities that underlie key computational thinking abilities—decomposition, pattern recognition,
pattern generalization to define abstractions or models, algorithm design, and data analysis and
visualization.
Data collected through pilot testing at supporting partner AAA Academy in Redlands will be used to
refine the materials activities. In the second year of the project, the refined materials and activities
will be tested at core partner Inland Leaders Charter School by establishing an experimental class
and control class at each grade level. Supporting partner Esri will advise on the relevance of the
spatial and computational skills being targeted by the project to the workplace needs of the
geospatial industries.
“In this exploratory integration phase, which is phase one of the project, the idea is to test the
feasibility and efficacy of this strategy,” Moore says. “The larger goals are to create a structure for
integrating spatial thinking and computation as key competencies in the K-12 curriculum and to
develop a teacher education certificate or program in spatial STEM through the School of
Education,” Moore says.
“We are pleased to see our distinctive University of Redlands spatial studies programs recognized
for the excellent educational training and opportunities we provide in scientific and technical fields,”
says University of Redlands Provost Kathy Ogren. “Fostering an understanding of STEM fields at the
K-12 level will provide future generations with foundational skill sets of great value.”
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands), a graduate of the University, hailed the grant and the research. “As
a proud Bulldog, I’m happy to see that my alma mater has the opportunity to increase investments in
STEM research programs. With the rising generation facing the most competitive workforce in
history, these types of studies can help us understand how to better prepare our students to succeed
and thrive in a 21st-century economy.”

3. The National Science Foundation grant of $695,151 for the Spatial STEM+C project titled, “The
Evaluation of a Model Spatial Thinking Curriculum for Building Computational Skills in Elementary
Grades K-5” begins Nov. 1, 2015 and ends in October 2017. Researchers Moore and Scott are
working in collaboration with the University’s Center for Spatial Studies, which empowers faculty and
students at the University of Redlands to use spatial thinking and technologies to improve
instruction, conduct cutting-edge research and advance public service locally and globally.
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About Dr. Steven Moore: Moore joined the University of Redlands in 2013 as a result of a national
search for a director of spatial studies. Moore previously served as CEO of Science Approach, a
company that develops discovery-based instructional materials for classrooms in K-16 and provides
professional development opportunities for teachers. He received his B.A. in biology from Southern
Illinois University, an M.B.A. in human resources management and accounting from the University of
Illinois, and a Ph.D. in renewable natural resources studies and sociology from the University of
Arizona.
About Dr. Gary Scott: Scott is a visiting faculty member in the School of Education. Previously,
Scott created the Science and Arts Technology Center at Banning High School in the Los Angeles
Unified School District for students and teachers to use state-of-the-art technology to explore STEM
topics. Dr. Scott also founded the Inventatorium in the 93rd Street Elementary School in Los Angeles
and extended the project idea to Mission Elementary School in Loma Linda, California, and Inland
Leaders Charter School in Yucaipa, California. The goal of the Inventatorium is to integrate big ideas
from STEM into a project-based learning approach that is innovative and inspirational for students in
formal and informal learning environments.
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About University of Redlands
The University of Redlands is a private, independent undergraduate and graduate institution located
in the historic heart of southern California near mountains, beaches and desert. Founded in 1907
and situated on one of the most beautiful campuses in the region and state, Redlands is consistently
ranked among the best universities in the nation. Redlands offers more than 40 undergraduate

4. majors as well as graduate programs in business, communicative disorders, education, geographic
information systems (GIS) and music. The University blends liberal arts and professional education,
applied and theoretical study, traditional majors and an alternative degree program. For a select
group of highly motivated, self-driven students, the Johnston Center for Integrative Studies allows
undergraduates to negotiate their own course of study with a faculty/peer committee and receive
narrative evaluations rather than letter grades. Recognized for having one of the highest study
abroad participation rates among its peers, Redlands students travel the world, choosing from more
than 100 programs. Redlands’ Community Service Learning program receives national acclaim each
year as students complete over 100,000 hours of public service annually around the world. The new
Master of Science in GIS program is an intensive, one-year residential program that draws
international acclaim, in part due to the University’s close collaboration with Redlands-based Esri,
the world’s leading GIS company.