Board # 32 : Work in Progress: A Study of Augmented Reality for the Development of Spatial Reasoning Ability
- Conference
- Location
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Columbus, Ohio
- Publication Date
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June 24, 2017
- Start Date
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June 24, 2017
- End Date
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June 28, 2017
- Conference Session
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Work-in-Progress Posters: Computers in Education Division Poster Session
- Tagged Division
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Computers in Education
- Page Count
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12
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--27831
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/27831
- Download Count
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481
Paper Authors
John E. Bell Michigan State University
JOHN BELL Professor, Educational Technology, College of Education. John Bell earned his B.S. in Computer Science from Michigan State University, and then his M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. His research considered various user interfaces for human-computer interaction among users with a wide range of technology skills. Bell later completed a post doc at UC Berkeley focused on teaching programming to non-computer science majors, and the development of spatial reasoning abilities for engineering students. Bell has worked at Michigan State University since 1995. His work focused on the development of K-12 teacher abilities to use technology for teaching and learning. His recent research has focused on distance learning and collaboration through telepresence. One key aspect of this work is the study of embodied content for learning and collaboration. Embodied content includes collaborative textual environments as well as augmented/mixed reality. Other research includes idea-centered teaching and learning.
Timothy J. Hinds Michigan State University
TIMOTHY J. HINDS is the Academic Director of the Michigan State University College of Engineering CoRe (Cornerstone Engineering and Residential) Experience program and a Senior Academic Specialist in the Department of Engineering Undergraduate Studies. His current teaching and management responsibilities include development, delivery and administration of first-year courses in engineering design and modeling. He has also taught courses in machine design, manufacturing processes, mechanics, computational tools and international product design as well as graduate-level courses in engineering innovation and technology management. He has conducted research in the areas of environmentally-responsible manufacturing, globally-distributed engineering teaming and early engineering education development and has over 30 years of combined academic and industrial management experience. He received his BSME and MSME degrees from Michigan Technological University.
S. Patrick Walton Michigan State University
S. Patrick Walton received his B.ChE. from Georgia Tech, where he began his biomedical research career in the Cardiovascular Fluid Dynamics Laboratory. He then attended MIT where he earned his M.S. and Sc.D. while working jointly with researchers at the Shriners Burns Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. While at MIT, he was awarded a Shell Foundation Fellowship and was an NIH biotechnology Predoctoral Trainee. Upon completion of his doctoral studies, he joined the Stanford University Genome Technology Center, receiving an NIH Kirschstein post-doctoral fellowship. He joined Michigan State University in 2004 and his research is focused on the development of parallel analytical methods and the engineering of active nucleic acids (e.g., siRNAs) through mechanism-based design. He has been recognized for his accomplishments in both teaching and research, receiving the MSU Teacher-Scholar award, the College of Engineering Withrow Teaching Excellence Award, and being named an MSU Lilly Teaching Fellow.
Christopher Cugini Michigan State University
Cui Cheng Michigan State University
Daniel Joseph Freer
Michigan State University
orcid.org/0000-0003-2637-9461
Daniel Freer is Graduate Students studying Educational Psychology and Educational Technology. His focus is on how students learn, specifically the STEM fields.
William Cain Michigan State University
William Cain is Assistant Director of CEPSE/COE Design Studio and a doctoral candidate in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State University. William’s research focuses on how people teach, learn and collaborate in technology-rich environments.
Hannah Klautke Michigan State University
Hannah Klautke is a User Experience Research Associate with Usability/Accessibility Research and Consulting (Michigan State University Outreach and Engagement). She is involved in usability evaluations, focus groups, and information architecture projects for MSU and external clients. Her research areas include effects of cooperative online learning, interventions based on cognitive flexibility theory for reading to learn on the web, and student motivation and achievement in flipped classrooms. Hannah holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Bonn, a M.A. in Communication from the University of Missouri, and a Ph.D. in both Communication and Educational Psychology and Educational Technology from Michigan State University.
Abstract
Spatial ability is recognized as an important predictor for student success in STEM fields. Many different strategies have been employed as means for helping students develop these skills. The usage of device-driven augmented reality may prove to be a valuable strategy.
This study tested the use of augmented reality on smartphone and mobile tablet devices for developing spatial reasoning. An app was developed which allowed students both to move physically around a marker in order to view virtual objects from multiple angles as well as to reorient the marker. They also had the ability to rotate the objects along each of the major axes. Games were implemented in the app to support prediction of multiple step rotations. It was reasoned that combining the constraints possible with a digital tool, such as performing exact 90 degree rotations on particular axes, with the realism of augmented reality would provide a new way for students to practice spatial reasoning tasks.
To test the effects of this app, a group of first-year engineering students who performed poorly on the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PVST:R) had the opportunity to work with this app in a spatial visualization support course during their first semester. They were compared with a like group of students that was presented with a more traditional means for learning spatial reasoning.
Multiple measures will be compared for these groups of students, including: • Performance on the PSVT:R spatial abilities test re-administered at the end of the course; • Student attitudes, including their confidence and enjoyment of spatial abilities tasks; • Observations of students as they worked with the app; and • Student comments in follow-up focus groups (both those students who used the app and those students who were introduced to the app only after completing the course).
The results of this study may demonstrate whether or not augmented reality can be an effective tool for developing spatial abilities. If it is a promising direction, perhaps other types of spatial skills could also be taught using this genre of applications.
Bell, J. E., & Hinds, T. J., & Walton, S. P., & Cugini, C., & Cheng, C., & Freer, D. J., & Cain, W., & Klautke, H. (2017, June), Board # 32 : Work in Progress: A Study of Augmented Reality for the Development of Spatial Reasoning Ability Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27831
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