Improving Education for the Next Generation
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In September 2025, a donation from the Turner Kirk Trust helped to open the door for those at the beginning of their academic journeys with the launch of an exciting new learning centre that aims to improve maths performance in primary school children.
The Turner Kirk Centre for Spatial Reasoning is based at the University of Glasgow and is supported by the Turner Kirk Trust. This large-scale research pilot involves schools from across Scotland and will roll out an innovative method of teaching spatial maths in primary schools with the goal of enhancing spatial reasoning skills, numeracy and STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) outcomes.
The project, led by Professor Quintin Cutts and Dr Jack Parkinson of the University’s School of Computing Science, began in 2023 with the alternative teaching model being shared in primary four classes around Scotland.
Spatial reasoning is a set of cognitive skills associated with understanding space and spatial concepts. For example, being able to imagine what an object would look like if you rotated it or flipped it. Spatial reasoning is very important for STEM learning.
“While I was working on my PhD, I kept thinking that learning about spatial reasoning at university is great, but also very late. Spatial reasoning isn’t formally taught in schools, so it’s often left for people to pick up on their own through extracurricular activities or playing with certain types of toys like LEGO. That means that some people will develop these skills, and some people just won’t get the chance.
“With this project, we’re trying to give everyone the opportunity to develop those skills and to encourage spatial thinking in young people long before they start making decisions in secondary school or university. We’ve worked with many schools and we have seen tangible effects in the classroom. The research indicates that if you improve spatial reasoning, you improve a whole range of STEM-related skills and aptitudes.
“The impact of philanthropic giving on projects like this is immeasurable. Typical funding routes are difficult for projects like ours as there are risks, however, when you find the right funder who cares about the project and wants to give it a go, then the sky is the limit. You just need someone to have a little belief and a little faith, and you can see some amazing success with projects that are not only valuable to researchers here at the University, but also to the community.”
Ewan Kirk, co-founder of the Turner Kirk Trust, said: “Every child should have the opportunity to succeed in STEM, but until now, there seemed to be no cheap, scalable, and highly effective method for making this a reality. That’s why we backed the experimental pilot project that kicked this off – and why we’ll continue to support it as it cements itself as a transformative, nationwide teaching model.”