Journal for Geometry and Graphics 12 (2008), No. 1, 099--108
Copyright Heldermann Verlag 2008
Evaluation of the Spatial Visualization Ability of Entering Students in a Brazilian Engineering Course
Rodrigo Duarte Seabra
Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, trav. 2, n. 83, 05508-040 São Paulo, Brazil
rodrigo.duarte@poli.usp.br
Eduardo Toledo Santos
Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo, Av. Prof. Almeida Prado, trav. 2, n. 83, 05508-040 São Paulo, Brazil
eduardo.toledo@poli.usp.br
Graphical Engineering and its applications require advanced abilities of visualization. The visualization ability and spatial reasoning are essential qualities for engineers due to their importance in the process of graphical communication and these professionals' need for solving spatial geometric problems. Yet, there is still no consensus on the exact components that constitute spatial visualization ability. Questions related to increasing students' spatial aptitude have motivated research on evaluation methods, as well as on the existing differences between males and females. Besides gender, differences in the spatial visualization ability and its acquisition have been attributed to a number of variables, including age, cognitive development, spatial experiences and genetic evolution. This work describes an experiment carried on through the execution of a computerized battery of two spatial visualization tests (MRT and TVZ), with the purpose of evaluating the entering students' spatial visualization ability in the Engineering courses of the Escola Politécnica of the University of São Paulo and to verify the existing differences between age groups and between genders, as well to analyze the behavior of the performance of the participants in the tests by testing some hypotheses.
Keywords: Spatial visualization ability, gender differences, mental rotation test.
MSC: 51N05
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