Sorby Expands on Theory of Spatial Skills

By Broadside Correspondent Erica Terrini

The Arch Lab, a group linked to the psychology department at George Mason University, presented a lecture by Sheryl Sorby, a professor at Michigan Technological University on Wednesday, Feb. 27 in SUB I.

The institution, also known as Michigan Tech, is where Sorby currently teaches civil and environmental engineering in Houghton, Mich.

Sorby has a B.S. in civil engineering and has received a Ph.D. in the philosophy of engineering mechanics.

She has worked closely with Maria Kozhevnikov, an associate professor for the psychology department at Mason. Kozhevnikov holds a Ph.D. in mental imagery, spatial updating and multimedia learning.

It was Sorby’s and Kozhevnikov’s common interest in the visual or spatial imagery of objects and how these skills are developed, that led to a forum titled, “Removing Barriers to Success in Engineering: Interventions that Reduce Gender Differences in 3-D Spatial Skills.”

Sorby discussed the importance of spatial skills, which are the “ability to visualize in three dimensions…a cognitive skill that has been shown to be important for success in engineering and other technological fields.”

This definition was found in Sorby’s work titled, “Sustained Efforts in developing 3-D Spatial Skills for Engineering Students.” The discussion quickly changed to the topic of an individual’s ability to mentally manipulate 3-D objects.

Spatial skills are more generally categorized in a low, medium or high grouping of skills for every individual.

Researchers questioned whether gender had an impact on the development of spatial skills, as well as whether or not spatial skills were assets that could be further developed.

For example, children from different countries are more likely to be participating in different customs due to their ethnic background and surroundings or learning through differing educational systems and therefore, some will be developing higher spatial skills.

“The one thing that I thought was interesting was the discussion about cultures and how different cultures started out at different levels,” said David Kidd, a Ph.D. student. “It was interesting to consider that changing the educational system could add to the success and productivity of an engineering professional.”

Sorby had conducted research in order to propose answers to both of these theories. In Sorby’s findings, the activities that produce higher spatial skills tend to be gender bias. Such activities include, “playing with construction toys, taking shop or drafting or mechanical classes, playing 3-D computer games, participating in certain sports, having certain mathematics skills and sketching.” These activities tend to benefit an individual’s spatial skills.

A test called the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations, is widely recognized for being the best predictor of an individual’s spatial skills.

The other theory that Sorby supported with her research conducted at Michigan Tech and the surrounding areas was that spatial skills could be further developed past the point of adolescence. This has significance for future engineering students who find the course material difficult because of their lack of hands-on activities that would have initially benefited their skills.

“I think if you can prove that you can take people with any rate of spatial ability and train them to perform then that’s significant,” said David Cades, a Ph.D. student. “This allows anyone, especially with skills, who wants to be an engineer to do so.”

Sorby and her team received funding from the National Science Foundation to develop software and a text source to help develop these skills for engineering students. In conclusion, Sorby found that repeating various activities will build a student’s strengths in spatial imagery and the main exercise that produces the beneficial results is the sketching of these images.

Since the start of her research and her productions of her multimedia software, Sorby has noted and recorded major improvements for engineering students at Michigan Tech. “My goal is to help students develop these skills and that’s been the goal since the beginning,” Sorby said.

Through practice and repetition of, “isometric sketching, orthographic projection with normal surfaces, orthographic projection with inclined and curved surfaces, flat pattern developments, rotations of objects about a single axis, rotation of objects about two or more axes, object reflection and symmetry, cross-sections, surfaces and solids revolution and combining objects,” Sorby said.

According to Sorby, students can improve their spatial skills and later on excel in advanced course work in engineering. The research conducted by Sorby and her co-workers at Michigan Tech hold significance for producing more engineering students overall by providing the opportunities for any student with any level of spatial skills to build basic spatial skills and enhance understanding.