About

David H. Uttal is a Professor of Education and Psychology at Northwestern University, specializing in the field of Learning Sciences and Social and Economic Policy. His research interests include mental representation, cognitive development, spatial cognition, and early symbolization. Uttal has received notable awards such as the 2022 International Mind, Brain, and Education Society's research translation award and the 2014 George A. Miller Award from the American Psychological Association for the most distinguished publication in general psychology. His academic background includes a PhD from the University of Michigan, earned in 1989. Uttal has served as an associate editor for the Merrill-Palmer Quarterly and has been involved in various grant review panels for the U.S. Department of Education, focusing on mathematics, science, and spatial thinking education.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Mathematics education
• Psychology
• Mathematics
• Pedagogy
• Developmental psychology
• Data science
• Engineering
• Engineering ethics
• Knowledge management
• Cognitive psychology
• Statistics

Selected publications

• Inferring Spatial Reasoning by Observing Human Interactions With Smart IoT Objects

  IEEE Internet of Things Magazine · 2026-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This paper presents a proof-of-concept for a new paradigm for analyzing human-object interactions with high spatiotemporal resolution. The system comprises a set of smart IoT objects, equipped with sensors to monitor their spatial states and surroundings, including other smart objects. Each object is able to detect, store, and wirelessly report its orientation, rotation, adjacency, and various types of movements, both its own and those of neighboring objects. By collating this data, an analytical model can reconstruct a participant’s spatiotemporal handling of the objects with millisecond resolution, thereby inferring their spatial reasoning process. The objective is to establish a IoT echo systems for monitoring, characterizing, and enhancing human spatial reasoning through this novel approach of observing interactions between humans and objects with agency. The paper delves into the engineering details of the IoT system, followed by a series of spatial reasoning-related experiments. Subsequently, analytical methods are developed to gain insights into participants’ spatial reasoning within the context of two well-known tasks: the Tower of Hanoi and the Wechsler Block Design Task. Finally, the results are presented to demonstrate the practicality of the developed IoT-style smart object system for quantitatively understanding spatial reasoning in a data-driven manner.

  PublisherDOI

• Updating the Spatial Activities and Videogame Survey for Use in Development Research

  Education Sciences · 2025-09-25 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Childhood experiences and activities, including sports, videogames, and toys, have long been of interest in understanding cognitive development and later individual differences. In particular, the malleability of spatial reasoning suggests that early experiences, including a variety of spatial activities, may have a significant impact on the development of students’ spatial ability skills. In the present study, we sought to update the most widely used spatial activity survey and propose a survey of videogame usage. Both surveys were administered to a large sample of adults with children aged 7 to 14, with a sample (N = 1210) diverse in race, ethnicity, and gender. We explored the survey’s descriptives, scale design, and factor structure to support future use.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Referee report. For: Pre-protocol of the Virtual Spatial Configuration Task (VSCT): A Novel Virtual Reality-Based Tool for Assessing Cognitive Map Formation Abilities [version 1; peer review: 3 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]

  Faculty of 1000 Research Ltd · 2025-01-01

  peer-reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Assessing children’s spatial thinking: Insights, challenges, and implications

  Advances in child development and behavior · 2025-01-01

  book-chapterSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Future of Cognitive Development in Challenging Times

  Journal of Cognition and Development · 2025-04-24

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Assessing Children's Spatial Thinking: Insights, Challenges, and Implications

  2025-07-11 · 1 citations

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  In the past few decades, interest in children’s spatial thinking has increased substantially, and consequently, interest in spatial assessments for children has also increased. However, there are not many reliable, validated, and widely accessible spatial assessments for this segment of the population, which affects researchers' ability to conduct and interpret spatial thinking research. While some limitations of these tests relate to broader issues with spatial assessments in general (see Uttal et al., 2024), creating assessments that are appropriate for children presents unique challenges. In this chapter, we review the current state of tests of children’s spatial thinking, including mental rotation and perspective-taking. We draw on insights from psychometrics, open science, and cognitive development research. Furthermore, we examine how spatial assessments affect research on the relation between spatial and STEM abilities, particularly research aimed at leveraging spatial thinking through interventions and training that improve children’s spatial skills and, in turn, their STEM performance (i.e., Bruce & Hawes, 2015; Cheng & Mix, 2014; Hawes et al., 2022; Judd & Klingberg, 2021; Mix et al., 2021). Lastly, we outline recommendations for improving these assessments to ultimately improve research and theory creation on the development of spatial thinking.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Looking Ahead: Advancing Measurement and Analysis of the Block Design Test Using Technology and Artificial Intelligence

  Journal of Intelligence · 2024-05-22 · 1 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The block design test (BDT) has been used for over a century in research and clinical contexts as a measure of spatial cognition, both as a singular ability and as part of more comprehensive intelligence assessment. Traditionally, the BDT has been scored using methods that do not reflect the full potential of individual differences that could be measured by the test. Recent advancements in technology, including eye-tracking, embedded sensor systems, and artificial intelligence, have provided new opportunities to measure and analyze data from the BDT. In this methodological review, we outline the information that BDT can assess, review several recent advancements in measurement and analytic methods, discuss potential future uses of these methods, and advocate for further research using these methods.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Diversifying computer science: An examination of the potential influences of women‐in‐computing groups

  Science Education · 2024-02-26 · 16 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Abstract The gender imbalance in computer science (CS) is one of the most challenging issues in American education. CS is the only science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field in which women's representation has steadily declined in recent decades. In this study, we explored one potential approach that could be effective in increasing college women's participation in CS: participation in Women‐in‐Computing (WiC) groups. Through participant observation and individual interviews in a WiC group at a major research university, we investigated how students engage in WiC, the impacts of the WiC on identity and belonging, and the challenge of sustainability. The results were coded using a hybrid of grounded and deductive coding and indicate that WiC groups offer various programs and events that enable women in CS to fully participate, learn, and grow. WiC represents an identity, a community, a safe space, and a journey. The results also suggest that the WiC has had positive impacts on students' identity and belonging, as evidenced by increased self‐efficacy, reduced imposter syndrome, and enhanced sense of belonging and community. Furthermore, we outline three strategies employed by the WiC to ensure the group's sustainability. Our study sheds light on how WiC can encourage women to enter and persist in CS, and on some of the characteristics of a successful WiC. We demonstrate that WiC may be potentially effective in diversifying CS through identity‐based participation. Moreover, student leaders design both the structure of the group and the leadership continuity process to ensure sustainability.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• How Can We Best Assess Spatial Skills? Practical and Conceptual Challenges

  Journal of Intelligence · 2024-01-16 · 41 citations

  reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Spatial thinking skills are associated with performance, persistence, and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) school subjects. Because STEM knowledge and skills are integral to developing a well-trained workforce within and beyond STEM, spatial skills have become a major focus of cognitive, developmental, and educational research. However, these efforts are greatly hampered by the current lack of access to reliable, valid, and well-normed spatial tests. Although there are hundreds of spatial tests, they are often hard to access and use, and information about their psychometric properties is frequently lacking. Additional problems include (1) substantial disagreement about what different spatial tests measure-even two tests with similar names may measure very different constructs; (2) the inability to measure some STEM-relevant spatial skills by any existing tests; and (3) many tests only being available for specific age groups. The first part of this report delineates these problems, as documented in a series of structured and open-ended interviews and surveys with colleagues. The second part outlines a roadmap for addressing the problems. We present possibilities for developing shared testing systems that would allow researchers to test many participants through the internet. We discuss technological innovations, such as virtual reality, which could facilitate the testing of navigation and other spatial skills. Developing a bank of testing resources will empower researchers and educators to explore and support spatial thinking in their disciplines, as well as drive the development of a comprehensive and coherent theoretical understanding of spatial thinking.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “You gotta tell the camera”: Advancing children's engineering learning opportunities through tinkering and digital storytelling

  Child Development · 2024-03-28 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  This study addressed whether combining tinkering with digital storytelling (i.e., narrating and reflecting about experiences to an imagined audience) can engender engineering learning opportunities. Eighty-four families with 5- to 10-year-old (M = 7.69) children (48% female children; 57% White, 11% Asian, 6% Black) watched a video introducing a tinkering activity and were randomly assigned either to a digital storytelling condition or a no digital storytelling condition during tinkering. After tinkering, families reflected on their tinkering experience and were randomly assigned to either engage in digital storytelling or not. Children in the digital storytelling condition during tinkering spoke most to an imagined audience during tinkering, talked most about engineering at reflection, and remembered the most information about the experience weeks later.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Engineering Children's Learning

  NSF · $114k · 2011–2016

• Collaborative research: Neural and cognitive strengthening of conceptual knowledge and reasoning in classroom-based spatial education

  NSF · $193k · 2017–2020

• EAGER: MAKER: The Design and Engineering of Scientific Instrumentation as a Pathway for Introducing Making into High School Science Classrooms

  NSF · $300k · 2016–2019

• NIH Grant R29HD034929

  NIH · $517k · 2004

• Collaborative Research: Advancing Early STEM Learning Opportunities Through Tinkering and Reflection

  NSF · $607k · 2015–2020

Frequent coauthors

• Judy S. DeLoache

  27 shared

• Catherıne A. Haden

  Loyola University Chicago

  18 shared

• Robert A Kolvoord

  13 shared

• Nora S. Newcombe

  12 shared

• Kinnari Atit

  University of California, Riverside

  12 shared

• Karl S. Rosengren

  University of Rochester

  12 shared

• Lei Yuan

  Applied Science and Technology Research Institute

  11 shared

• Camillia Matuk

  9 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Psychology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1982

• M.A., Psychology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1978

• B.A., Psychology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1976

Awards & honors

• 2022 – Winner of the International Mind, Brain, and Educatio…
• 2014 – Winner of the George A. Miller Award from the America…
• 2008 – Associate Editor, Merrill-Palmer Quarterly
• 2008 – Member, Standing Grant Review Panel, Mathematics and…
• 2007 – Member of the Math and Science Education grant review…