Improving Undergraduate Engineering Students' Spatial Skills Through 3D Interactive Virtual and Physical Manipulatives

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There is evidence that well-developed spatial skills are strongly correlated with student success in the STEM disciplines. Indeed, the National Science Board identified spatial skills as one of the three critical cognitive skills, along with mathematical and verbal skills, that promote high-level thinking and reasoning leading to the success of students in STEM. This project aims to improve undergraduate engineering students' spatial skills by updating and assessing an educational technology called 3D Interactive Virtual and Physical Manipulatives (VPM). The VPM technology simultaneously integrates virtual (computer) manipulatives and physical (real-world, tangible) manipulatives, so learners can use multiple senses to process a series of dynamic mental images while performing spatial tasks. The goal of the project is to develop new types of manipulatives with real-world engineering applications to improve undergraduate students' spatial skills and to motivate and inspire interest in engineering. The effectiveness of the VPM technology for undergraduate engineering students will be studied through traditional educational research methods involving quantitative and qualitative data collection, and electroencephalography measure neural efficiency while student participants are performing relevant assessment tests. The research findings from this project will add to the STEM education knowledge base by generating new insights into how simultaneous integration of virtual and physical manipulatives works to enhance learning, and why. The successful completion of this project will enable STEM undergraduates, particularly engineering undergraduates, to improve their spatial skills, helping to prepare them for a successful career in STEM. The research results of this project will be disseminated to the STEM education community through conference presentations and journal publications.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.