Investigating the Relationship Between Spatial Skills and Computer Science

The relationship between spatial skills training and computer science learning is unclear. Reported experiments provide tantalising, though not convincing, evidence that training a programming student's spatial skills may accelerate the development of their programming skills. Given the well-documented challenge of learning to program, such acceleration would be welcomed. Despite the experimental results, no attempt has been made to develop a model of how a linkage between spatial skills and computer science ability might operate, hampering the development of a sound research programme to investigate the issue further. This paper surveys the literature on spatial skills and investigates the various underlying cognitive skills involved. It poses a theoretical model for the relationship between computer science ability and spatial skills, exploring ways in which the cognitive processes involved in each overlap, and hence may influence one another. An experiment shows that spatial skills typically increase as the level of academic achievement in computer science increases. Overall, this work provides a substantial foundation for, and encouragement to develop, a major research programme investigating precisely how spatial skills training influences computer science learning, and hence whether computer science education could be significantly improved

Visualizing Electric Circuits: The Role of Spatial Visualization Skills in Electrical Engineering

A significant and sizeable correlation is established between engineering students’ scores on a spatial visualization test and their scores on an electric circuits concept test with about 25 % of the variation shared between the two tests. Visualization appears to play a very important role in the analysis of electric circuits which requires the mental transformation of pictorial representations of circuits to formal circuit diagrams

An ongoing spatial intervention project in irish secondary schools for improved engineering education

Spatial skills have been shown to strongly predict STEM attainment and can therefore be a determining factor in choosing to pursue high-paying engineering careers. This strong reliance on them particularly limits students with low spatial skills – a group over-represented by girls and students of low socioeconomic status. It has also been demonstrated that spatial training leads to meaningful improvements in skill development. In Ireland, as in most countries, spatial thinking is not explicitly taught at the pre-college level, even though it could influence students’ eventual career paths. Currently, only a person’s previous experiences outside the classroom influence skill development. In order to increase the number of students who select engineering and other STEM occupations as a career path, an explicit emphasis on training spatial thinking is likely to be very beneficial in precollege education. An established spatial intervention course was selected for delivery to secondary schools in Ireland. Through training and ongoing support, teachers’ spatial skills, and pedagogical content knowledge for spatial thinking are being developed to be shared with their students, leading to an increase in students’ spatial skill level and future employment opportunities

An examination of the role of spatial ability in the process of problem solving in chemical engineering

Engineers often communicate with one another through drawings or sketches and understanding technical information through graphical representations is a skill necessary for engineering practice. Well-developed spatial skills are known to be important to understanding technical drawings and are therefore, important to success in engineering. Unfortunately, of all cognitive processes, spatial skills show robust gender differences, favouring males, which could contribute to the underrepresentation of women in engineering. In this research, we administered a test of spatial cognition to students enrolled in a common 3rd year course in chemical engineering . In a second session, students were given a set of 12 textbook problems from a prerequisite course to solve, to determine if there was a link between scores on a spatial instrument and the number and type of problems solved correctly. Both instruments were scored and statistical analyses were performed. A strong positive correlation (r = 0.59, p \u3c 0.00001) between spatial skills test scores and the number of problems successfully solved by the students was found, confirming the link between spatial skills and engineering problemsolving. This paper describes the findings from this research, including identification of the type of problems where spatial skills appear to play a role

Evolution of Test Items: From Open-ended to Multiple-Choice

Grading is often a faculty member’s least favorite chore, especially in engineering where open-ended problems prevail. For this reason, multiple-choice test items could be a popular alternative for assessing learning and understanding. In addition, most Learning Management Systems allow the instructor to cre¬ate multiple-choice questions to be scored automatically by the system. The use of multiple-choice items in engineering graphics education could increase efficiency, allowing instructors to focus on other aspects of their teaching rather than spending significant time grading open-ended problems. The authors of this paper have been involved in a project to develop a Concept Inventory for Engineering Graphics over the past several years. Since Concept Inventories typically consist of multiple-choice items, development of this instrument was reliant on the creation of numerous valid and reliable items. This paper will focus on the process employed in multiple-choice item creation with application to engineering graphics. The process will be illustrated through demonstration of item evolution through several iterations

An Investigation of the Role of Spatial Ability in Representing and Solving Word Problems Among Engineering Students

Background Spatial ability is significantly related to performance in engineering education. Problem solving, an activity that is highly relevant to engineering education, has been linked to spatial ability. Purpose/Hypothesis To what extent is spatial ability related to problem solving among engineering students and how do approaches to problem representation and solution vary with spatial ability level? Design/Method Three instruments – a spatial ability test, word math problems and accompanying core math competency questions – were administered to two samples of first year engineering students in two different countries. Data were analyzed at the test level to evaluate the relationship of spatial ability to problem representation and solution. A detailed item level analysis was conducted to compare approach to problem solving with spatial ability level. Results Spatial ability was found to be significantly related to problem solving but not to the core competency questions indicating the relationship was limited to the problem representation phase and not the solution phase. Key aspects of representation were identified for each problem to reveal a more pronounced relationship between representation and spatial ability than between problem solving (representation and solution) and spatial ability. Conclusions Problem solving can be considered to consist of two cognitively distinct phases: spatial ability is significantly related to problem representation but not to problem solution. Hence, this study shows that spatial ability plays a key role in engineering education that is not limited to visualization of imagery but extends to thinking during problem solving, a non-routine activity that requires mental representation

Exploring the role of spatial cognition in problem solving

While spatial aptitude is acknowledged as a key cognitive ability that accompanies success in STEM education, less is reported about the qualitative differences between weak and strong visualisers in how they approach and engage with assessments in STEM education. In this paper, we study one particular aspect of the STEM curriculum - solving convergent ‘word’ problems in mathematics - in an attempt to discern quantitative and qualitative differences between the approaches weak and strong visualisers adopt when solving these problems. The paper is a work-in-progress that started with a search for suitable convergent mathematics problems which were then presented to a small sample of engineering students using a think aloud protocol. Participants were asked to think aloud while they solved the problems and to write their answers using a LiveScribe pen to concurrently record spoken and written responses. They also completed a spatial skills test. The magnitude and significance of the correlation between the spatial and mathematics tests scores were measured to be r = .79, p \u3c .01

Spatial Skills and Success in Engineering Education: A Case for Investigating Etiological Underpinnings

One of the most consistent findings within engineering education research is the relationship between spatial skills achievement and success within STEM disciplines. A critical dearth in this research area surrounds the question of causality within this known relationship. Investigating the etiological underpinnings of the association of spatial skills development to success in engineering education is a contemporary research agenda and possesses significant implications for future practice. This paper presents a starting point through a review of some of the pertinent literature to consider this current agenda

SAperI: Approaching gender gap using Spatial Ability training week in high-school context

Maria Giulia Ballatore, Gavin Duffy, Sheryl Sorby, and Anita Tabacco. 2020. SAperI: approaching gender gap using Spatial Ability training week in high-school context. In Eighth International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality (TEEM’20), October 21–23, 2020, Salamanca, Spain. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 7 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3434780.343657