Male advantage on spatial tasks may be explained in part by gender stereotypes (Nash 1975). The current studyinvestigated the effect of awareness of sex differences in mental rotation on mental rotation (MR) performance. We hypothe-sized that students with negative stereotypes would score significantly lower than students who were unaware or held positivestereotypes. Participants – 285 undergraduates — completed the Shepard & Metzler (1971) MR task followed by a short onlinesurvey. Preliminary analysis revealed a significant sex difference in mental rotation performance F (1, 256) = 9.68, p=. 002.There was no main effect of awareness on MR performance. Interestingly, there was a significant interaction between sex andawareness on MR performance, F (1,256) =6.77, p=. 010. Results on the role of awareness in cognitive strategy selectionwill be presented. By understanding gender stereotypes associated with spatial ability, we can reduce the gender gap found inSTEM disciplines.

STEM disciplines have been shown to positively impact an individual’s visuospatial skills (Kozhevnikov, 1999).The current study examines improvement in spatial thinking in physics undergraduate students over the course of a semester.Students completed the Shepard and Metzler (1971) task at two time points– beginning and end of a semester – where they wereasked to determine if two 3D figures were a match or mirror-images of each other. A Tobii X60 eye-tracker was used to recordeye movement as an indirect measure of cognitive strategy selection. Preliminary analysis show a significant improvement inmental rotation performance from time point 1 (M=31.867, SD=5.027) to time point 2 (M=35.333, SD=3.885) t(14)=-3.014,p=.009. A latent profile analysis will be used to model cognitive strategies selected at time points 1 and 2 and analyzed for sexdifferences. The findings of this study are important for understanding the underrepresentation of women in STEM.