Spatial Visualization Test Research Articles

English

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using dynamic geometry software on pre-service mathematics teachers’ spatial visualization skills and to determine whether spatial visualization skills can be a predictor of success in learning analytic geometry of space. The study used a quasi-experimental design with a control group. There were 46 students in the experimental group and 48 students in the control group. The Purdue Spatial Visualization Test (PSVT) was applied as both pre- and post-test to measure the students’ spatial visualization skills. Furthermore, the Prior Knowledge Test (PKT) was administered at the beginning of the study to measure their prior knowledge, and the Academic Achievement Test (AAT) was used to evaluate their ability in analytic geometry of space. The results of the study showed that using dynamic geometry software was effective for improving students’ spatial visualization skills. It was also found that spatial visualization skills are a significant predictor of success in spatial analytic geometry. Key words: Spatial visualization, dynamic geometry software, spatial analytic geometry, success.

Can We Predict Technical Aptitude?: A Systematic Review.

To identify background characteristics and cognitive tests that may predict surgical trainees' future technical performance, and therefore be used to supplement existing surgical residency selection criteria. Assessment of technical skills is not commonly incorporated as part of the selection process for surgical trainees in North America. Emerging evidence, however, suggests that not all trainees are capable of reaching technical competence. Therefore, incorporating technical aptitude into selection processes may prove useful. A systematic search was carried out of the MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Embase online databases to identify all studies that assessed associations between surrogate markers of innate technical abilities in surgical trainees, and whether these abilities correlate with technical performance. The quality of each study was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation system. A total of 8035 records were identified. After screening by title, abstract, and full text, 52 studies were included. Very few surrogate markers were found to predict technical performance. Significant associations with technical performance were seen for 1 of 23 participant-reported surrogate markers, 2 of 25 visual spatial tests, and 2 of 19 dexterity tests. The assessment of trainee Basic Performance Resources predicted technical performance in 62% and 75% of participants. To date, no single test has been shown to reliably predict the technical performance of surgical trainees. Strategies that rely on assessing multiple innate abilities, their interaction, and their relationship with technical skill may ultimately be more likely to serve as reliable predictors of future surgical performance.

The Correlation between Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Astronomy Achievement, Attitudes towards Astronomy and Spatial Thinking Skills

<p>The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in pre-service Science teachers’ astronomy achievement, attitudes towards astronomy and skills for spatial thinking in terms of their years of study. Another purpose of the study was to find out whether there was correlation between pre-service teachers’ astronomy achievement, attitudes towards astronomy and skills for spatial thinking. The study was conducted with 280 pre-service teachers (freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors) studying at the education faculty of a university in Black Sea Region of Turkey. The data were collected through Astronomy Achievement Test, Astronomy Attitude Test and Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Visualization of Rotations. One way factor analysis (One-Way Anova) technique for independent groups was used for data analysis in order to find out whether pre-service teachers’ astronomy achievement, attitudes towards astronomy and skills for spatial thinking differed in terms of their years of study. In order to find out whether there was correlation between pre-service teachers’ astronomy achievement, attitudes towards astronomy and skills for spatial thinking, simple linear correlation analysis was conducted and Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient was checked. The results of the data analysis showed that pre-service teachers’ astronomy achievement, attitudes towards astronomy and skills for spatial thinking differed significantly in terms of their years of study. In addition, a low positive correlation was found between pre-service teachers’ astronomy achievement and attitudes towards astronomy while a high positive correlation was found between pre-service teachers’ astronomy achievement and their skills for spatial thinking. In line with these results, recommendations were made to increase the number of astronomy classes in education faculties and to teach astronomy not only in fourth year but also in the first three years.</p>

Difficulties of Student Teachers in the Engineering Graphics and Design Course at a South African University: Snapshot on Sectional Drawing

Background:Engineering Graphics and Design (EGD) is a course that teaches a medium of communication in the form of drawings. EGD is a courses taken by student teachers in the technology teacher education programmes.Materials and methods:Purposive sampling was used to select 40 students, enrolled for the Bachelor of Education: 15 students were in their third year and 25 in their second year. Questionnaires method to student teachers, classroom observation and focus group interviews with students were carried out.Results:The results showed that students have a poor EGD background; experience difficulties in understanding sectional drawing; lack understanding of sectional drawing principles; and lack knowledge of 2D/3D sectional drawing. Students perform poorly in the spatial visualization test, which is the basis for competence in EGD course. Lecturers lack adequate pedagogic practices to effect adequate understanding of sectional drawing among student teachersConclusions:It is recommended that more attention be paid to line-work and that spatial visualization exercises be emphasized during teaching, using Piaget’s perception of imagery theories. Specific subject didactics of technology subjects should be strengthened with these topics in order to prepare efficient and quality teachers of EGD and related subjects.

The Effects of Dynamic Geometry Software and Physical Manipulatives on Pre-Service Primary Teachers’ Van Hiele Levels and Spatial Abilities

The purpose of the study was to compare the influence of dynamic geometry software activities and influence of the physical manipulatives and drawing activities on the spatial ability and van Hiele levels of pre-service primary school teachers in a geometry course. A quasi-experimental statistical design was used in the study. The participants were 61 pre-service primary teachers in the second year of their undergraduate program in the Department of Elementary Education at Afyon Kocatepe University. A total of 32 pre-service teachers (computer group) were trained in the dynamic geometry based activities and 29 pre-service teachers (physical-drawing group) were trained in the physical manipulative and drawing based activities. In order to determine the two groups of the pre-service teachers’ geometric thinking levels, the van Hiele Geometry Test and in order to determine the two groups of the pre-service teachers’ spatial ability, The Purdue Spatial Visualization Test was used as the pre-test and post-test. The results of the study showed that there was no difference on the post-test of the two groups related to the van Hiele levels and spatial abilities. Moreover, both groups have significantly higher achievement on the post-test compared to the pre-test.

Visual-spatial perception: a comparison between instruments frequently used in the primary care setting and a computerized cognitive assessment battery.

BackgroundThe development of screening instruments will help the primary care team to determine when further comprehensive cognitive assessment is necessary.DesignA retrospective analysis based on medical records.Patients and settingPatients referred to a comprehensive geriatric assessment unit.AnalysisCognitive screening and assessment included visual-spatial components: the Mini Mental State Examination, the Clock Drawing Test, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test, and the Neurotrax (Mindstreams) computerized cognitive assessment battery.ResultsThe average age of the 190 eligible patients was 81.09±5.42 years. Comparing the individual tests with that of the visual-spatial index of Neurotrax, we found the Trail Making B test to be most sensitive (72.4%) and the Cube Test to have the highest specificity (72.8%). A combination of tests resulted in higher sensitivity and lower specificity.ConclusionThe use of a combination of visual-spatial tests for screening in neurocognitive disorders should be evaluated in further prospective studies.

Are Gender Differences in Spatial Ability Real or an Artifact? Evaluation of Measurement Invariance on the Revised PSVT:R

We investigated the extent to which the observed gender differences in mental rotation ability among the 2,468 freshmen studying engineering at a Midwest public university attributed to the gender bias of a test. The Revised Purdue Spatial Visualization Tests: Visualization of Rotations (Revised PSVT:R) is a spatial test frequently used to measure students’ spatial visualization ability in three-dimensional mental rotation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. With two major approaches for evaluating measurement invariance, we found that five items in the Revised PSVT:R showed a difference in the response pattern by gender, but the impact of these biased items was marginal on the total scores on the scale. Our findings support the equitable use of the Revised PSVT:R by gender for educational research and practices.

Predictive value of background experiences and visual spatial ability testing on laparoscopic baseline performance among residents entering postgraduate surgical training.

Emerging evidence suggests that despite dedicated practice, not all surgical trainees have the ability to reach technical competency in minimally invasive techniques. While selecting residents that have the ability to reach technical competence is important, evidence to guide the incorporation of technical ability into selection processes is limited. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether background experiences and 2D-3D visual spatial test results are predictive of baseline laparoscopic skill for the novice surgical trainee. First-year residents were studied. Demographic data and background surgical and non-surgical experiences were obtained using a questionnaire. Visual spatial ability was evaluated using the PicSOr, cube comparison (CC) and card rotation (CR) tests. Technical skill was assessed using the camera navigation (LCN) task and laparoscopic circle cut (LCC) task. Resident performance on these technical tasks was compared and correlated with the questionnaire and visual spatial findings. Previous experience in observing laparoscopic procedures was associated with significantly better LCN performance, and experience in navigating the laparoscopic camera was associated with significantly better LCC task results. Residents who scored higher on the CC test demonstrated a more accurate LCN path length score (r s(PL)=-0.36, p=0.03) and angle path (r s(AP)=-0.426, p=0.01) score when completing the LCN task. No other significant correlations were found between the visual spatial tests (PicSOr, CC or CR) and LCC performance. While identifying selection tests for incoming surgical trainees that predict technical skill performance is appealing, the surrogate markers evaluated correlate with specific metrics of surgical performance related to a single task but do not appear to reliably predict technical performance of different laparoscopic tasks. Predicting the acquisition of technical skills will require the development of a series of evidence-based tests that measure a number of innate abilities as well as their inherent interactions.

Spatial Visualization as Mediating between Mathematics Learning Strategy and Mathematics Achievement among 8th Grade Students

Jordanian 8 th grade students revealed low achievement in mathematics through four periods (1999, 2003, 2007 & 2011) of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). This study aimed to determine whether spatial visualization mediates the affect of Mathematics Learning Strategies (MLS) factors namely mathematics attitude, mathematics motivation, mathematics self-regulation, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics anxiety on mathematics achievement. The study consists of 360 students from public middle schools in Alkoura district, selected through stratified random sampling. It employed 65 items to assess MLS, which consists, attitude (18 items), motivation (7 items), self-regulation (25 items), self-efficacy (5 items) and math anxiety (10 items). The mathematics test comprises of 30 items, which has eight items for numbers, 14 items for algebra and eight items for geometry while spatial visualization test consists of 32 items base on 2D and 3D views. The findings showed that spatial visualization fully mediated the relationship between motivation, math anxiety and mathematics achievement and it partially mediated the relationship between attitude and mathematics achievement. However, the results showed no mediating effect between self-regulation, self-efficacy and mathematics achievement. Considering these results, it is recommended that teachers should focus on mathematics attitude, mathematics motivation and math anxiety in classes to make achievement in mathematics easier. Moreover, these factors help students deeply understand mathematics through interest in spatial visualization as it mediates between relevant factors and mathematics achievement.

Recollection and familiarity components of recognition: effect of side of mesio-temporal damage

We investigated the memory performance of three patients with unilateral mesio-temporal lobe damage with the aim of evaluating the roles of the left and right hemispheres in recollection and familiarity. Consistent with the “Material Specificity Hypothesis”, the right brain-damaged individual was selectively poor on recollection and familiarity tests for faces. Conversely, left-lesioned patients were severely deficient in recollection and familiarity of verbal material but mildly deficient on visual-spatial tests. This partially unexpected finding is interpreted in light of the ability of humans to verbally recode almost any material, thus giving rise to left-hemisphere effects for nominally nonverbal stimuli.

Investigating Chemistry Students’ Skills to Mentally Manipulate (Rotation & Reflection) 2D Symbolic Molecular Representations

The use of two-dimensional (2D) symbolic representations for describing, communicating and reasoning about phenomena and concepts is a common practice in Chemistry. Many researchers have shown that there is a positive correlation between visuospatial ability and fluency with chemical representations. The aim of this study is the exploration of chemistry students’ skills to visualize and mentally manipulate molecular structures. In this paper the results of the implementation to chemistry students of the computerized version of the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotation and two purposely designed and developed prototype «visualization» instruments dealing with rotation and reflection of 2D symbolic molecular representations are presented.

초등학생용 공간 시각화 검사지 개발 및 표준화

Spatial ability has been valued as one component of intelligence and as an talented domain. And it is associated with the achievements in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. So, the instrument for measuring spatial ability is very important. The purpose of this study is to develop Spatial Visualization Tests for Elementary School Children and examine internal consistency reliability evidence and construct validity evidence on confirmatory factor analysis of that instrument. For this purpose, `The Spatial Visualization Tests for Elementary School Children was administered to 1482 Korean elementary school students. As a result, this study show that internal consistency reliability evidence using Cronbach` alpha showed item consistency and construct validity evidence from confirmatory factor analysis in the Spatial Visualization Tests for Elementary School Children. And also, this study show ed that item difficulty and item discrimination of the Spatial Visualization Tests for Elementary School Children were within an acceptable range.

The Investigation of Spatial Skills of Prospective Teachers with Different Cognitive

The differences between information processing abilities and the tendencies of individuals with different cognitive styles stem from individual differences. Although the number of research studies conducted in this area has been rapidly rising, there are many questions that have not yet been answered. With this aim, the spatial abilities of prospective teachers with different cognitive styles were examined in this study. The Group Embedded Figures Test was used to examine the cognitive style differences of the prospective teachers; and with the help of this test, the prospective teachers were categorized into two groups: field dependent and field independent. The Spatial Visualization Ability Test was used to examine the spatial ability of the prospective teachers, and it was found that there is a statistical significance between the spatial abilities of the prospective teachers with different cognitive styles. Moreover, the prospective teachers with field independent cognitive styles are more successful than the prospective teachers with field dependent cognitive styles on the spatial ability test. When the scores of the spatial visualization test were examined in terms of gender, it was found that the males were more successful than the females.

Reassessment of Jewish Cognitive Ability: Within Group Analyses Based on Parental Fluency in Hebrew or Yiddish

The most influential study on the differences in intellectual ability between Jews and gentiles may be Backman’s (1972) analysis of group differences in intellectual ability using the Project Talent data. However, inspection of the study, and the Project Talent data file on which the study is based, suggested that further analyses could be conducted that may be useful in shedding light on Jewish intellectual achievement. The most significant change from the original analysis was the use of parental fluency in Hebrew or Yiddish as a variable allowing for within group analyses. Analyses using this variable showed that as fluency increased so did general intelligence and scores on individual tests, with the exception of tests of spatial visualization and mechanical reasoning. For other European languages parental fluency was inversely associated with general intelligence. Results also showed that rates of myopia were positively associated with parental fluency in Hebrew or Yiddish, yet negatively associated with parental fluency in other European languages. General intelligence and individual test scores, with the exceptions of tests of spatial visualization and mechanical reasoning, were higher in individuals with myopia; for both Jews and gentiles. The results suggest that parental fluency in Hebrew or Yiddish is a valid measure Jewish within group differences and further research using the measure and the Project Talent data file is prescribed.

Computer-based working memory training in children with mild intellectual disability

We designed a working memory (WM) training programme in game framework for mild intellectually disabled students. Twenty-four students participated as test and control groups. The auditory and visual–spatial WM were assessed by primary test, which included computerised Wechsler numerical forward and backward sub-tests and secondary tests, which contained three parts: dual visual–spatial test, auditory test and a one-syllable word recalling test. The results showed significant difference between WM capacity in the intellectually disabled children and normal ones (p-value < 0.00001). Visual–spatial WM, auditory WM and speaking were improved in the trained group. Four tests showed significant differences between pre-test and post-tests. The trained group showed more improvements in forward tasks. The trained participant's processing speed increased with training.We found that school is the best place for training. More comprehensive human–computer interfaces could be suitable for intellectually disabled students with visual and auditory impairments and problems in motor skills.

The Effects of 3D Computer Models to Academic Achievement and Spatial Ability: Atomic Models

In this study, it was aimed that is there any effect of 3D computer models on students’ academic achievement and three dimensional thinking and spatial ability. The sample of study consist of 67 second year science education students who attended as Experimental and Control Group in which the unit of Structure of Atom, were taught Primary Science Education Department. Study was grounded on semi-experimental design method. As the data collection instruments, Academic Achievement Test (AAT) and Spatial Visualization Test (SVT) were used. The data obtained on instruments were evaluated by using descriptive statistics, compare tests and effect size. The results of the study indicate that 3D computer models are more effective than traditional teaching method on increasing students’ academic achievement and improving their and spatial abilities.

Revisiting the Rybakov Figures

The Rybakov Test is a traditional nonverbal spatial ability test for which promising results have been reported in the few validation studies that have been conducted to date. In order to more thoroughly determine the psychometric properties of the test, we subjected it to systematic validation in two samples of 338 participants in total. Our analyses demonstrated that the Rybakov Test is a reliable measure of spatial visualization ability that exhibits convergent associations with other spatial visualization tests (r = .45–.62) and general intelligence tests (r = .43–.44). The Rybakov Figures showed high internal consistency (α = .79–.84) and high retest reliability (rtt = .77) – and even proved to be Rasch scalable. Because of the widely varying item difficulties, the test can be administered even in highly skilled samples without generating ceiling effects.

The Study of Visual Cueing Effects on Attentional Guidance and Individual’s Response Prediction to Proposed Questions with Using Their Eye Movement Analysis

In this study we examine whether it is possible or not to raise learning quality in less time with guiding eyes to target points ?And also whether adding visual cues have effects on prediction correctness of individual's responses to visual-auditory presented questions from analyzing their eye movements. We used electrooculographic signals from nine subjects to analyze individual's eye movements facing with visual- auditory stimuli. The stimuli include one spatial visualization test. The data were collected in an experimental procedure wherein subjects were trained how to solve the incoming problems and answering to the related questions. There were sixteen questions from the same category. A novel algorithm based on signal processing techniques was used to analyze EOG signals. After preprocessing using a band pass filter, 31 features were extracted from horizontal and vertical channel of EOG signals. Then 15 best features were selected using mRMR. Finally the selected features used for classification using SVM classifier. We used leave-one-person-out technique for classification to achieve more accurate results. Results from the experiment show a reduction in classification performance in with visual cues stage with respect to without visual cues stage also a reduction in

THE EFFECT OF ORIGAMI-BASED INSTRUCTION ON SPATIAL VISUALIZATION, GEOMETRY ACHIEVEMENT, AND GEOMETRIC REASONING

This research study examined the effect of origami-based geometry instruction on spatial visualization, geometry achievement, and geometric reasoning of tenth-grade students in Turkey. The sample (n = 184) was chosen from a tenth-grade population of a public high school in Turkey. It was a quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design. A control group (94 students) received regular instruction during a geometry unit in a tenth-grade classroom whereas an experimental group (90 students) received origami-based instruction for 4 weeks. The Spatial Visualization Test (SVT) was used to measure students’ spatial visualization ability in this study. The SVT consists of the Card Rotation Test, Cube Comparison Test, and the Paper Folding Test which were originally developed by Ekstrom, French, Harman & Derman (1976) and translated into Turkish by Delialioglu (1996). Besides, Geometry Achievement Test and Geometric Reasoning Test were developed by the researcher to measure geometry achievement level and geometric reasoning level of participants in key aspects of triangles. All tests had versions of pretest and posttest, and these tests were administered to both groups. A repeated-measures Analysis of Variance was used on each test scores to analyze data. The results indicated that origami-based instruction had significant effect on all dependent variables (spatial visualization, geometry achievement, and geometric reasoning). This suggested that origami might be integrated into high school geometry lessons to make geometry learning more effective.

The effects of web-based interactive virtual tours on the development of prospective mathematics teachers' spatial skills

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of web-based interactive virtual tours on the development of prospective mathematics teachers' spatial skills. The study was designed based on experimental method. The ''one-group pre-test post-test design'' of this method was taken as the research model. The study was conducted with 3rd year students of department of mathematics teaching for primary schools in a state university, who had taken computer courses for two terms but hadn't been involved in a web-based interactive virtual tour before. A total of 60 teacher candidates were included in the study. The Purdue Spatial Visualization Test (PSVT) was administered as the pre-test and the post-test. This test was developed so as to consist of 36 multiple choice items and include the skills of mental visualization of objects based on their surface developments, mental rotation of objects and mental visualization of rotated views of objects. In conclusion, according to the findings, the greatest increase occurred in developments part of prospective primary school mathematics teachers' spatial skills. Secondly, there was an increase in the rotations part. Next, the lowest increase was found in the views part.