Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 12-2018 Spatial Ability Degradation in Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students During the Winter Semester Break Benjamin J. Call Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd Part of the Engineering Education Commons Recommended Citation Call, Benjamin J., "Spatial Ability Degradation in Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students During the Winter Semester Break" (2018). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 7391. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/7391 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SPATIAL ABILITY DEGRADATION IN UNDERGRADUATE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS DURING THE WINTER SEMESTER BREAK by Benjamin J. Call A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Engineering Education Approved: ______________________ ____________________ Wade Goodridge, Ph.D. David Geller, Ph.D. Major Professor Committee Member ______________________ ____________________ Idalis Villanueva, Ph.D. Gary Stewardson, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member ______________________ ____________________ Oenardi Lawanto, Ph.D. Laurens H. Smith, Ph.D. Committee Member Interim Vice President for Research and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2018 ii Copyright © Benjamin Call 2018 All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Spatial Ability Degradation in Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students During the Winter Semester Break by Benjamin J. Call, Doctor of Philosophy Utah State University, 2018 Major Professor: Dr. Wade H. Goodridge Department: Engineering Education While spatial ability has a well-researched correlation with success in engineering, both academically and professionally, the vast majority of research is limited to short-term effects. Researchers have statistically shown that most interventions have a positive impact on spatial ability and claim that the impact is enduring. However, quantifying the duration of impact generally suffers from two limitations: 1) there is not a sufficient gap to determine if the impact endures, i.e., most research fails to follow up with participants more than a week later; and 2) no allowance is made for the influence of non-deliberate factors that may be increasing the spatial ability of participants. The non- deliberate factor of particular concern in this paper is undergraduate engineering coursework (Engineering Graphics and Statics) which have been correlated with increases in spatial ability – thus rendering them a type of indirect intervention even if they are not generally recognized as such. The research presented herein tracked changes in undergraduate engineering students’ spatial ability during the winter academic break following three courses iv (Engineering Graphics, Statics, and Advanced Dynamics) that represent a progression in the mechanical engineering curriculum at Utah State University. This approach removed engineering coursework as an active influence on engineering students’ spatial ability during data collection. The Mental Cutting Test was used to measure spatial ability. Changes in spatial ability were found to be statistically significant when measuring performance in terms of the time 32 participants spent taking the test, and similar, though not statistically significant, trends were seen in the test scores. It was initially observed that newer students tend to improve over the winter academic break while students more advanced in their engineering coursework do not exhibit a significant change in spatial ability. Multiple linear regression techniques identified academic performance, the sex of the students, playing music over the break, and prior life experiences as the driving factors in the differences in spatial ability malleability over the break, rather than simply progression through the engineering curriculum. (258 pages) v PUBLIC ABSTRACT Spatial Ability Degradation in Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Students During the Winter Semester Break Benjamin J. Call Spatial ability represents our ability to mentally arrange, rotate, and explore objects in multiple dimensions. This ability has been found to be important for engineers and engineering students. Past research has shown that many interventions can be created to boost an individual’s spatial ability. In fact, past research has indicated that engineering students significantly increase in spatial ability without an intervention while they are enrolled in certain engineering courses. Some researchers have claimed that the spatial ability boosts are permanent after an intervention. However, most researchers do not check the validity of that claim with continued assessment after more than a week past the end of an intervention. Additionally, if engineering education researchers are trying to measure the impact of their separate spatial ability intervention while the participating engineering students are actively enrolled in engineering courses, a confounding variable is introduced as the courses can impact students’ spatial ability. To resolve this, the work presented in this paper reflects research on engineering students’ spatial ability maintenance during the winter break between semesters. It was found that newer students exhibit spatial ability improvement during the break, while older students maintain their spatial ability at the same level. A deeper statistical analysis revealed that there are other factors that play a role in spatial ability changes over the break that are more significant than how far students had progressed in their studies. Those factors include with academic performance, the sex of the students, playing music during the break, and prior life experiences. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I give special thanks to my wife, Charity, for motivating me to pursue my education and complete this degree. Her acceptance and approval is far more important than any title or acclaim to be had from an academic institution. I also give special thanks to our children, my parents and siblings, and so many other friends and family members who have believed in me, feigned or shown interest, and have supported my life and educational endeavors. I would like to thank Dr. Wade Goodridge for his mentoring and supporting my freedom to research various topics while we have worked together. His friendship and perspective have been inspiring and helpful. I also thank Scott Bates and his staff for the Presidential Doctoral Research Fellowship, which enabled my sense of freedom in research and provided a community of researchers from whom I have learned and received camaraderie. I give ongoing thanks to Dr. John Stevens for his patience and tutelage in statistics over the years. I would especially like to thank my committee members, Drs. Idalis Villanueva, Oenardi Lawanto, David Geller, and Gary Stewardson, for their support and assistance throughout the entire process. Benjamin J. Call vii CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... iii PUBLIC ABSTRACT .........................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ vi LIST OF TABLES ..............................................................................................................x LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................1 Background of the Problem .....................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem .........................................................................................3 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................5 Research Hypotheses ...............................................................................................6 Research Design.......................................................................................................8 Significance of the Study .........................................................................................8 Assumptions and Limitations ..................................................................................9 Assumptions .....................................................................................................9 Limitations ......................................................................................................10 Definition of Terms................................................................................................11 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................13 Spatial Ability ........................................................................................................13 Spatial Interventions ..............................................................................................15