Work in Progress: Spatial visualization intervention in first semester engineering course

Abstract

Spatial visualization skills are linked to success in chemistry, computer science, engineering, and mathematics [1,2]. Studies found that females, independent of racial and ethnic background, consistently lag behind males in measures of spatial skills[3]. Brus et al. found that female students entering an engineering program report less confidence than male students in three categories: career choice, scientific preparation, and their preparation of using graphical tools[1]. The combination of a lack of confidence upon entry into an engineering program and low spatial visualization skills, in comparison to male peers, may hurt retention efforts in the case of female engineering students[1,2]. Studies also found that students can improve their spatial skills in a short amount of time through specialized training[4]. Various training approaches, including the use of pencil and paper exercises and specific computer applications or mobile apps, demonstrate similar improvements in spatial visualization[4,5]. Spatial skills comprise a broad category of subabilities whose definitions and associated mental processes require their own line of research[3,6]. Spatial ability subcategories, identified from cognitive studies, include: spatial perception, mental rotation, and spatial visualization[6]. Spatial perception refers to an individual's ability to determine the orientation of object's in relation to themselves, in spite of distractions. Mental rotation skills allow individuals to rotate two- or three-dimensional objects in their minds. The spatial visualization subcategory covers multistep problems involving both mental rotation and spatial perception. In the identification of these three subcategories, the authors found that the only significant discrimination, favoring males, was in tests of mental rotations. Meta-analysis showed the effect size for sex measured using the Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test (MRT) falls within 0.77-1.12 for a 95% confidence interval. The male advantage in mental rotation tasks did not carry over to multi-step spatial visualization tasks. In an attempt to explain the male advantage in mental rotation tasks, Voyer et al. considered visual spatial working memory, or the short-term storage of visual or spatial information[7]. The authors found that significant male advantage in visual spatial working memory does not fully account for the large difference in in mental rotation. Given the male advantage in mental rotations tests, the processes involved in mental rotation and the identification of tasks that require mental rotation demand attention[7,8]. This work considers the impact of a short spatial-skills intervention during a first semester engineering course as part of a new engineering program. The goal of the intervention is to improve mental rotation skills of our first year students. We hope these efforts will help to retain students in the engineering program.