Comparing the Results Received on Desktop Display and Paper Versions of Four Spatial Ability Test Types

Abstract

The spatial skills of freshman engineering students in higher education are investigated in this paper. For the analysis, the Mental Rotation Test, Mental Cutting Test, Purdue Spatial Visualization Test, and Heinrich Spatial Visualization Test were used. These tests were done on paper and in a non-immersive virtual environment using a desktop display by 201 and 205 students, respectively. The evaluation was done in the statistical program package R. According to the results, a better average of the ratio of correct answers is received on paper by 10.41%. To understand this difference, the rates of correct answers were also grouped and evaluated by test type, gender, dominant hand, age, and current studies of the participants. According to the results by test type, significant increases between the two versions occur on the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test, and the Synthesis as well as Decomposition subtypes of the Heinrich Spatial Visualization Test by 10.99%, 12.35%, and 22.07%, respectively. Besides this fact, each group of participants performed significantly better on paper than in non-immersive virtual environments.