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Abstract Decades of studies on spatial visualization skills have provided solid evidence that improving such skills will benefit learning in STEM broadly. While some colleges and universities have spatial thinking training built into the curriculum, it is not always efficient to require all students to take the training considering the economic and administrative costs. This paper documents an exploratory study conducted in a small college within a public university in Pennsylvania. More than 200 first-year college students from three science and engineering classes participated and the effectiveness of the 6-week training program was measured. The goal of the study is to answer the following questions: Is there a relationship between spatial visualization skills and final course grades in first-year science and engineering classes? Students at which level of spatial skills benefit the most from the training program? Both performance and qualitative survey data were collected before and after the training program. Participants' spatial visualization skills were measured on both the 30-point and 78-point scale, the latter representing the four-tier system of item complexity per Maeda, Yoon, Kim-Kang, and Imbrie. The results on the 30-point scale did not reveal a correlation between pre-test performance and the course final grades. On the 78-point scale, small positive correlations were found between the ability to solve more complex mental rotation problems and the final grades in computer science. The high-scoring students in the pre-test did not show more advancement in the post-test after the training. However, the post-test revealed a strong gain among those with low-to-medium spatial ability aptitude at the beginning of the semester. This finding is consistent with a previous study. Overall, students' confidence in solving mental rotation problems grew significantly. This paper shared detailed results, implications, as well as curricular plans.
Dunsworth et al. (Sat,) studied this question.