Test interactivity is promising in promoting gender equity in females' pursuit of STEM careers

Spatial ability provided important predictive validity to educational and work outcomes. Among the spatial factors underlining the spatial ability, mental rotation was the one in which large gender difference was constantly observed. As a measure of intermediate-scale spatial ability, the present study tested the effectiveness of an interactive test in reducing the gender difference in mental rotation with 442 primary school children of Grades 4 to 6. The results showed that the girls did perform closer to the boys using the interactive items as compared to the static items although overall the boys still outperformed the girls, the gender effect was increasing by age and grade making the largest gender difference occurred in Grade 6. By attending to the gender difference earlier and implementing interactive spatial tests and training, it can be expected to project smaller gender difference and more female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) later in life span.