The impact of 3-dimensional solid modeling on improving the visualization skills of engineering drawing students.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference in the improvement of visualization skills of form four Technical students in the state of Johor, Malaysia as measured by the Purdue Spatial Visualization of Rotation Test and Transformation of 3D to 2D Test through various interventions. Students were in one of two groups for this study. The experimental group consisted of students who were taking Engineering Drawing (ED) as one of their engineering elective subjects and who used 3D solid modeling software as an instructional tool; a control group was identified of students whose classes used a conventional learning method in ED. Instructional methods and materials designed by the primary author were used with a treatment group consisting of students enrolled in two sections of a pre-college engineering course. The primary research question asked if differences in gain scores on the visualization tests were obtained according to instructional method when pretest scores and gender were controlled for. Analysis of the mean difference was conducted to analyze the data for this research question. The dependent variable was the posttest score and the independent variables were pretest score and gender. A statistically significant difference was obtained between instructional methods, with the students using solid modeling software outperforming the students who used traditional instructional methods in terms of posttest scores.