Background: Spatial problem-solving is an essential skill for success in many engineering disciplines; thus, understanding the cognitive processes involved could help inform the design of training interventions for students trying to improve this skill. Prior research has yet to investigate the differences in cognitive processes between spatial…

Engineering Drawing (ED) is one of the fundamental courses for various engineering disciplines. However, first-year engineering undergraduates often face difficulties in learning and solving ED problems that require visualisation of 3D objects. Conventional and modern teaching methods do assist the teaching-learning of a subject but do not…

Background: Spatial ability is significantly related to performance in engineering education, and problem-solving, an activity that is highly relevant to engineering education, has been linked to spatial ability. Purpose/Hypothesis: This study investigated the following question--To what extent is spatial ability related to problem-solving among…

Introducing kindergarten children to the engineering design process (EDP) is an important objective of early STEM education. Studies indicate that children often miss the crucial steps of testing and optimising during the EDP and do not persist in making solutions better. The present study explores how children's goal awareness, self-evaluation…

This study analyzed the relative importance of different cognitive abilities for solving complex mathematical word problems (CWPs)--a demanding task of high relevance for diverse fields and contexts. We investigated the effects of spatial, verbal, numerical, and general reasoning abilities as well as gender on CWP performance among N = 1282…

Spearman concluded that performance on any test of mental ability could be explained by several cognitive factors organized hierarchically as one general factor and several subordinate specific factors (Spearman, 1904, 1927). The general factor accounted for the significant amount of inter-correlation between all ability tests for any one…

Differences exist between engineering and liberal arts students because of their educational backgrounds. Therefore, they solve problems differently. This study examined the brain activation of these two groups of students when they responded to 12 questions of verbal, numerical, or spatial intelligence. A total of 25 engineering and 25 liberal…

The present study assessed a short training experiment to improve spatial abilities using two tools based on virtual technologies: one focused on manipulation of specific geometric virtual pieces, and the other consisting of virtual orienteering game. The two tools can help improve spatial abilities required for many engineering problem-solving…

The following study investigates the range of strategies individuals develop to infer and interpret cross-sections of three-dimensional objects. We focus on the identification of mental representations and problem-solving processes made by 11 individuals with the goal of building training applications that integrate the strategies developed by the…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is a national focus. Engineering education, as part of STEM education, needs to adapt to meet the needs of the nation in a rapidly changing world. Using computer-based visualization tools and corresponding 3D printed physical objects may help nontraditional students succeed in…

These proceedings contain the papers of the 16th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in the Digital Age (CELDA 2019), held during November 7-9, 2019, which has been organized by the International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS) and co-organised by University Degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy.…

As the result of a qualitative investigation into spatial ability, a teaching technique called mentored sketching was found to be effective for teaching visualization skills to freshman engineering students. This contribution describes the technique, how it evolved, and comments made by students as to its effectiveness. While mentored sketching…

Taking advantage of the convergence of technology and new insights of teaching and learning, the Ministry of Education of Malaysia has implemented a new educational reform primarily to revise the current curriculum, establish new learning standards, and incorporate the use of technology as an integral part of the learning process. This new…

Reports on a study in which two spatial tests were given to science and engineering majors and to students in nursing and agriculture at Purdue University (Indiana). Scores from the tests consistently contributed a small but significant amount of success on measures of performance in chemistry. (TW)

A proposition that 3-D CAD provides an array of unambiguous solutions to engineering problems is illustrated. This proposition assumes that engineering problems are conceived in parallel processing mode while they are solved in sequential processing mode. Circle construction analysis, parallel equidistant planes, and solid modeling are discussed.…