Figure 1. Web site welcome page
The ability to visualize objects and situations in one's mind and to manipulate those images is a cognitive skill vital to many career fields, especially those that require work with graphical representations such as visual arts and engineering. With the advent of powerful computers and the resulting ability to program 3-D graphic visualizations of everything from works of art to chemical molecules to statistical trends in data, it is likely that these skills will become even more important.
Research on imagery has shown that spatial skills can be improved by training. This may be especially important for women who remain poorly represented in many technical fields.
During Fall 1997, Dawn Blasko, a cognitive psychologist, and Kathy Holliday-Darr, an instructor in engineering graphics, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, conducted research that examined the visualization skills of first year engineering majors. Results showed students with greater previous experience and better imagery skills had greater success in their first engineering courses. Based on this research, Blasko and Holliday-Darr envisioned a tool that could assess the visualization skills of students as, or even before, they arrive at Penn State Erie. In addition, the tool should provide training based on the skills in which the students are deficient.
As one of the 1999&-2000 Faculty Technology Initiative Projects, a prototype web-based tool to assess and provide training on spatial skills was developed. Staff of the Educational Technology Services group of the CAC (Carol Dwyer, Barbara Smith, Gretta Armstrong, David Stong, Kaspar Stromme, and Mike Tribone) provided instructional design, programming, and graphic design for the first stage of the project. (The Web site is shown in Figure 1 below.)
This involved setting up a website that runs Macromedia® AUTHORWARE® ATTAIN modules for testing on two spatial tasks: mental rotation [Figure 2, the ability to quickly rotate within imagination two- or three-dimensional objects] and spatial perception [Figure 3, the ability to determine spatial relationships].
Figure 2. Is the object on the right the same as the object on the left?
Figure 3. Students draw the water level
In addition, an interactive Microsoft® Access database was designed to collect and view the resulting data.
The next phase of the project will include development of a third test on spatial visualization, the ability to manipulate complex spatial information when several stages are needed to produce the correct solution. This will be an adaptation of the Paper Folding test [Figure 4]. Students will select which of the unfolded objects is equal to the folded object.
Figure 4. Which flat pattern is correct
Based on user's scores on all of the tests, training will focus on improving skills. Blasko and Holliday-Darr want the training to be very interactive, motivating, and entertaining in order to meet preferences of today's student audience. Although existing computer games have been shown to be helpful in improving spatial skills, many of these games are violent and not suitable in an instructional program. Using a participatory design process, Blasko and Holliday-Darr worked with teams of psychology and engineering students to design learning activities. Thus, exercises and games will be developed that are interesting and appropriate for peers of the student designers.
Currently the first modules of the program are being used in the freshman graphics classes at Penn State Erie. The program is also being used by an engineering faculty member at Montana State University. Eventually the program will be made available to high schools and outreach programs to help prepare students interested in fields which require visualization skills.
With support from a Penn State Erie Undergraduate research grant, two Penn State Erie psychology majors, Amanda Ervin and Jessica Turos, have evaluated the first stages of the program. This semester they are conducting an experiment to determine the usability of the program as well as examine the effectiveness of on-campus versus at-home training. As time permits, students and faculty are developing training exercises.
For additional information, see http://viz.bd.psu.edu/viz/ on the Web.
