Neuropsychological Assessment of First-Year Architecture Students’ Visuospatial Abilities: Overview

First-year architecture students are expected to utilise visuospatial abilities to generate/construct, retain, rotate and manipulate space mentally and physically through physical and digital representations. This study of 57 female and 23 male participants was conducted to investigate first-year architecture students’ visuospatial abilities by means of the Beck Depression Inventory, Logical Reasoning Test and Judgment of Line Orientation (JLO) test. Participants’ sexes, cognitive development level, depression scale scores, university entrance exam results, vision disorders, physical competences, art training prior to university and error types were the study’s main parameters. The results showed that academic scores of the participants both to enrol in the program and complete the first-year studio did not correlate with their JLO scores. Nondepressed participants performed better in JLO. Error analyses demonstrated that there is a concentration on certain items according to the test stimulus line positions, especially in females. Those who reported limited physical and visual competency made more mistakes in the same items. The study concludes that sex, depression, and individual differences in physical and visual competency, and art training, are significant variables for visuospatial performance. Judging visuospatial parameters through spatial design exercises is different from having proper methods and instruments to assess the achievements of the students regarding those abilities in architectural design education. It is important to map students’ visuospatial abilities individually from a developmental perspective. There is a strong need to develop 4D psychometric instrument to assess visuospatial abilities

A Research On The Visuospatial Skills Of First Year Architecture Students

Spatial cognition and skills are of critical importance for architecture. During their education, architecture students are expected to use and develop visuospatial skills to generate/construct, retain, rotate, and manipulate space mentally and physically through physical and digital representations. This study was designed and conducted to fill the gap in researches on the first-year architecture students' spatial skill evaluated by means of neuropsychological tests. The goal of the study was to investigate the potential connections between the first architecture students' visuospatial skills and art training or education prior to the university education. 128 students participated to the research voluntarily. For visuospatial skills Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) test was administrated. The findings demonstrated that first year architecture students' performances on neuropsychological tests assessing visuospatial skills were compatible with the norm scores and their cognitive development level. Participants with art training prior to university performed better in RSPM total, and RSPM subtest E. The results supported the previous studies claiming that art training and/or education have a positive impact on spatial cognition and visuospatial skills.Mimarlık eğitimi öğrencilerin görsel-mekânsal becerileri ve yetkinlikleri ile doğrudan ilişkilidir. Eğitimleri boyunca öğrencilerden mekânı zihinsel ve fiziksel olarak kurabilmek, düzenleyebilmek, döndürebilmek ve dönüştürebilmek için görsel-mekânsal becerilerini kullanmaları ve geliştirmeleri beklenmektedir. Bu çalışma mimarlık birinci sınıf öğrencilerinin, yükseköğrenim öncesinde aldıkları sanat eğitimi ile görsel-mekânsal becerileri arasındaki ilişkiyi araştırmak amacıyla yapılmıştır. Görsel-mekânsal beceri düzeyinin belirlenmesi için nöropsikolojik araçlar kullanılmış ve psikometrik değerlendirme yapılmıştır. Çalışmada genel zekânın en iyi yordayıcıları arasında yer alan nöropsikolojik testlerden Raven Standart İlerlemeli Matrisler Testi (RSİM) kullanılmıştır. Çalışmaya 128 gönüllü öğrenci katılmıştır. Bulgular öğrencilerin nöropsikolojik değerlendirme sonuçlarının norm puanlarla ve bilişsel gelişim seviyeleri ile uyumlu olduğunu göstermektedir. Yükseköğrenim öncesi sanat eğitimi almış katılımcıların RSİM toplam ve RSİM E alttesti sonuçlarının sanat eğitimi almamış öğrencilerden daha yüksek olduğu belirlendi. Çalışmanın bulguları sanat eğitiminin uzay biliş ve görsel-mekânsal becerilere olumlu katkısını ortaya koyan diğer çalışmaları desteklemektedir

Towards a Personalized Learning in Basic Design Studio: The Use of Neuropsychological Tests

Selected Papers of 6th World Conference on Design and Arts (WCDA-2017)Basic design education was conventionally structured around standardised lesson plans and instructional methods. Although each architectural school considers itself as an ecole, the content and the methods of basic design courses mostly follow a particular layout. The principles or qualities, elements and compositional rules of design constitute the content, whereas the methods can vary according to the instructors. These content and dependent methods consider students as passive receivers, whereas students of basic architectural design course should be active learners, participants and even contributors to the process. Hence, it is of importance to consider the students as individuals with particular skills and learning domains. The characteristics of each student should be depicted. In this way, it could be possible develop personalised learning methods and more active and productive basic design studios. This study aims to present methods of educational psychology, particularly neuropsychological tests as key factors of personalised learning in studios.

Effect of Telehealth System on Glycemic Control in Children and Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes

A close diabetes team-patient relationship is required for establishing satisfactory metabolic control. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a telehealth system on diabetes control