Spatial Skills Framework for Young Engineers

Engineering is a spatially demanding field. Yet, unlike previously held assumptions, recent research reveals that spatial ability is not innate, but that through experience, education, and intervention, people of all ages can improve their visualization skills—a key component of the engineering habits of mind. In this chapter, we examine the spatial skills that are predictive of success in engineering education and the types of intervention activities that have demonstrated improved performance in STEM subjects. In doing so, we identify parallel assessment measures, skills, and tasks in the development of a spatial skills framework for young engineers that includes physical and mental rotation, symmetry properties, paper folding and unfolding, and cross-cutting objects. These skills are developed through 3D modelling and 2D representational drawings. We illustrate the skills in the framework with samples of work from students in grades 2 and 3 in response to a series of linking-cube tasks in a cube-creature project.