Journal for Geometry and Graphics 15 (2011), No. 2, 225--235
Copyright Heldermann Verlag 2011
Improvement in Space Sense of Students in a Computer Graphics Course Using 3D-CG Software
Emiko Tsutsumi
School of Social Information Studies, Otsuma Women's University, 2-7-1, Karakida, Tama, Tokyo 206-8540, Japan
tsutsumi@otsuma.ac.jp
A full-year elective course of Computer Graphics is conducted using High-end 3D-CG software. Lectures and exercises on projection drawing methods and sketch drawing are given at the beginning of the course. MCT was performed at the beginning and the end of the course. This paper examines the results, especially with respect to the relationship between scores on MCTs and scores on assignments of the 2008 class. MCT increased at the end of the course especially in case of students who got higher total subject scores. It became clear that the higher the score on assignments, the more improvement there was in the student's spatial abilities. In assignments significantly correlating with MCT scores, students had to model objects by creating a picture in their mind, because examples were given only by orthogonal projection views or they had to compose by using some abstract conditions like "to include Boolean operation", etc. Thus, the students those who could create clear images of the target objects both geometrically and dimensionally and the students who intuitively understood when they had created the wrong form of the model received good results on assignments and could gain greater understanding of spatial recognition. In conclusion, if we define abilities measured by MCT in terms of cognitive abilities relating to three dimensional objects drawn in a two dimensional plane, completing assignments by making images of objects improves the space sense of students.
Keywords: Spatial recognition, space sense, computer graphics course, graphics education, MCT, 3D-CG software.
MSC: 97G80; 51N05
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