A Key to Success in Engineering: Developing Spatial Skills for First-Year Students

• In Event: Lesson Learned About Increasing Mathematics Achievement Through Spatial Instruction

Abstract

Rationale:
The ability to visualize in three dimensions is a cognitive skill that has been shown to be important for success in STEM fields. For engineering in particular, the ability to mentally rotate 3-D objects is especially important. Unfortunately, of all the cognitive skills, 3-D rotation abilities exhibit robust gender differences, favoring males. Engineering is one of the most highly spatial of the STEM careers; it is also among the least diverse. Despite nearly 40 years of concerted effort, the percentage of women students who study engineering remains at about 18-20% nationally. One reason for the dearth of women in engineering could be the relatively low spatial skills of women compared to men, especially for mental rotation tasks. For more than two decades, the author has been conducting research aimed at identifying practical methods for improving 3-D spatial skills, especially for women engineering students.

Purpose:
This longitudinal study was designed to examine the impact of the spatial skills course developed by Sorby when self-selection was not a factor. Michigan Tech has been offering a course to help students improve their 3-D spatial skills for more than two decades. Initially it was an optional class for students who failed the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PSVT:R) during orientation. In previous studies, students who failed the PSVT:R and enrolled in the course comprised the experimental group (EG); those who failed the PSVT:R and did not enroll were the comparison group (CG). The findings from these studies showed that students from the EG performed better on a number of measures when compared to the CG. A valid criticism of these studies was that the two groups were self-selected. Beginning in 2009, the spatial skills course became a requirement for students who initially failed the PSVT:R. This paper reports on the results from a longitudinal study conducted to determine the impact of the spatial skills course when no self-selection is involved.

Methods/Data Source:
From 2009 until 2014, approximately 4000 first-year engineering students at Michigan Tech have taken the PSVT:R during first-year orientation which occurs one week prior to the start of the fall semester. In this analysis, we have divided the students into four groups, based on their PSVT:R test scores: 1) scored 18 or lower—weak visualizers, 2) scored 19-21—marginal visualizers, 3) 22-27—average visualizers, and 4) 28-30—high visualizers. We further divided the students into those who started their university studies in calculus compared to those who started in pre-calculus. We examined grades in key STEM courses as well as retention, disaggregated by gender.

Results/Discussion/Significance:

For the students with weak mathematics preparation (started their university studies in pre-calculus), we found that there were significant differences in STEM grades earned as well as in retention/graduation rates for those students who went through the spatial skills training compared to those who had not. The differences were particularly significant for the female engineering students.

Authors

• Sheryl Sorby, Ohio State University

• Norma Veurink, Ohio State University