Parallel Form Reliability Analysis of a Tactile Mental Cutting Test for Assessing Spatial Ability in Blind and Low-vision Populations

There is ever-growing research indicating that high spatial ability correlates with student and professional success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses and career fields. A few valid and reliable testing instruments have been developed to measure specific constructs of spatial thinking in sighted populations. However, due to a lack of accessibility, most of these testing instruments are unable to be utilized by blind or low-vision (BLV) populations.

As part of the Spatial Aptitude Test developed by the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) in 1939, the Mental Cutting Test (MCT) measures both spatial visualization and spatial relational reasoning. In 2018, the MCT was converted into a tactile test, called the Tactile Mental Cutting Test (TMCT), designed to allow for tactile interpretation, instead of visual interpretation, of 3-D objects and their planar cuts. This paper presents a continued reliability analysis of the parallel TMCT subtests A & B with the BLV population. Data was collected from BLV participants attending National Federation of the Blind (NFB) conventions, learning centers for the blind, and STEM-oriented NFB summer camps for high school students.