Enhancing Graphic Communication and Design Student Teachers’ Spatial Visualisation Skills through 3D Solid Computer Modelling

Abstract

Graphic Communication and Design (GCD) students often struggle to understand and convert multi-faceted objects from orthographic (2D) into isometric (3D). Research established a strong link between spatial visualisation and the field of Graphics Communication. Conventional teaching and learning practice using textbooks, physical models and pencil drawings is not sufficient for improving spatial visualisation skills. The current research focused on the effect of three-dimensional solid computer modelling software (3D-CAD) on the spatial visualisation skills of GCD students at a rural-based university. Students at this university are from disadvantaged and under-resourced schools and they arrive with little or no computer-based experience. The study principally depended on literature that suggested that spatial visualisation is developed throughout a person’s lifetime and that it can be improved by partaking in spatial activities. Underpinned by Piaget’s perception and imagery theory, the study investigated the impact of 3D-CAD on students’ spatial visualisation skills. The study was carried out at the University of Zululand (Unizulu), comprising 200 pre-service teachers taking a GCD module in 2016 and 2017. The study employed a pre-test and post-test design using the Purdue Spatial Visualisation Test: Rotation (PSVT:R) to evaluate students’ spatial visualisation before and after a 3D-CAD intervention. The post-test scores from the PSVT:R for the groups were compared using ANCOVA. Results showed that there was a significant difference with a moderate positive effect in the spatial visualisation skills between the experimental group and the control group. Therefore, 3D-CAD proved to be an effective means of instruction in a GCD module.

Keywords:

• Spatial visualisation
• 3D solid computer modelling
• Piagets’ perception imagery theory

ORCID

Petrus Jacobus Kok http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5626-4986