Abstract
Visual-spatial abilities are relevant for performing diverse everyday tasks as well as being successful in multiple fields. This work provides empirical evidence supporting the claim that studying a computer graphics course, as commonly offered in computer science or engineering programs, can help develop stronger visual-spatial abilities. This benefit was estimated with the assessment of students’ performances in a standardized test of visual-spatial abilities. This empirical pre-test/post-test study ran for three consecutive semesters and involved six computer graphics groups where students were evaluated with the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test to measure whether the full-semester working on contents heavily related to 2D/3D geometric transformations had a positive effect on students’ visual-spatial intelligence. Results show a statistically significant increase in the average score in the test, which in turn suggests that these cognitive abilities could be reinforced or trained through the normal course workload. Additional findings in this study suggest that a retest gaining factor is present just by taking the test twice, and that there is a weak correlation between students’ level of visual-spatial abilities at the beginning of the course and the final grades obtained at the end of the semester.
Highlights
Visual-spatial abilities (VSA) are cognitive skills considered necessary for solving many everyday tasks, such as reading maps, navigating traffic, adjusting to new environments, and packing items in constrained situations
This benefit was estimated with the assessment of students’ performances in a standardized test of visual-spatial abilities. This empirical pre-test/post-test study ran for three consecutive semesters and involved six computer graphics groups where students were evaluated with the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test to measure whether the full-semester working on contents heavily related to 2D/3D geometric transformations had a positive effect on students’ visual-spatial intelligence
Additional findings in this study suggest that a retest gaining factor is present just by taking the test twice, and that there is a weak correlation between students’ level of visual-spatial abilities at the beginning of the course and the final grades obtained at the end of the semester
Summary
Visual-spatial abilities (VSA) are cognitive skills considered necessary for solving many everyday tasks, such as reading maps, navigating traffic, adjusting to new environments, and packing items in constrained situations. These abilities are relevant for succeeding in diverse fields of study, in higher education and professional areas related to mathematics, technical graphing, engineering, and science, to name a few (Hartman & Bertoline, 2005; Lohman, 1996; Saorín-Pérez, 2009). The extent of these improvements is still difficult to generalize when trying to predict results in more specific contexts This is because many of the former studies have
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