Exploring the relationship between spatial ability, individual characteristics and academic performance of first-year students in a French engineering school

Sophie Charles (1, 2) , Alain Jaillet (1) , Nicolas Peyret (3, 2) , Laurent Jeannin (1) , Alain Rivière (3, 2)

1 BONHEURS - Bien-être, Organisations, Numérique, Habitabilité, Education, Universalité, Relation, Savoirs
2 SUPMECA - SUPMECA - Institut supérieur de mécanique de Paris
3 QUARTZ - Laboratoire QUARTZ

This study is concerned with spatial visualisation and its possible inferences as a necessary ability in French engineering education. It is completed as part of a French research programme, which aims at better understanding how multi-purpose 3-D modelling software is used by learners at different levels of schooling. Spatial ability may be measured thanks to paper tests and predicts choices and success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and professions. It is often described as an ability composed of two factors, namely spatial orientation and spatial visualisation. The latter can be further developed into mental rotation and mental transformation. In order to evaluate the spatial visualisation skills of first-year students in a French engineering school specialised in mechanics, the Revised Purdue Spatial Visualization Tests: Visualization of Rotations, the Mental Rotation Test, which both aim at measuring mental rotation, and the Mental Cutting Test, which aims at measuring mental transformation, were administered to 137 engineering freshmen in September 2018. This data collection was completed with a selection of demographics and academic assessment scores. The purpose of this article is to explore, by carrying out an analysis of variance, how these students’ spatial visualisation skills can be related to individual characteristics and how they contribute to academic performance.

Mots clés: Diversity in Engineering Education; Gender; Spatial ability

Domaines: Education

Sophie Charles, Alain Jaillet, Nicolas Peyret, Laurent Jeannin, Alain Rivière. Exploring the relationship between spatial ability, individual characteristics and academic performance of first-year students in a French engineering school. pp.235-248, 2023, 978-2-87352-018-2. ⟨hal-03346640⟩