2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This empirical full paper examines the assessment of productive and receptive spatial skills using a computerized test battery. In the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), spatial skills are important and can be improved with experience and direct instruction (Sorby, 2009, Uttal, et al., 2006). Many types of spatial skills are used for various types of work. For example, spatial orientation, the ability to imagine oneself or a configuration from different perspectives is needed in geographical work and surveying. Spatial reasoning and spatial planning are required in many careers, including military strategy, surgery, and dental work. Object memory, or the ability to encode and recall attributes of objects, along with visual/spatial memory are needed in many careers and daily life. According to the Spatial Encoding Strategy Theory (Margulieux, 2018), Spatial Visualization (SV) skills, or the ability to mentally rotate 3D objects, are needed for abstract thinking required in computer programming, scientific modeling and design, engineering drawings, and 3D graphing used in calculus.
SV skills are frequently assessed using multiple choice tests, such as the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test with Rotations (PSVT: R) and the Mental Rotations Test (MRT). These are assessments of an understanding and are referred to as receptive skills. Productive spatial skills require the use of spatial skills to produce a product, such as modeling, design, and engineering drawing. There does not appear to be a valid and reliable formal measure of these skills to date. In response to this need, a novel Spatial Grid Drawing Task was developed using point and click digital line drawing to assess productive skills.. A series of studies were conducted, beginning with Study 1A (N=30) and 1B (N=26) in which a battery of spatial assessments of object memory, visual/spatial memory, 2D and 3D rotation skills, spatial memory and planning tasks, along with the novel Spatial Grid Drawing Task were administered in a lab study comparing first year engineering subjects’ receptive and productive spatial skills. Scores on the battery were also compared within-subject with PSVT: R scores from orientation. A low to moderate positive correlation was found between all assessments, with a unique construct identified in the productive Spatial Grid Drawing Task. Future studies are designed to utilize the MRT-A (version A) paper-pencil assessment of receptive SV skills and a revised Spatial Grid Drawing Task to include 2D and 3D rotation drawings to assess the productive SV skills of subjects from the psychology research pool at an R1 University. This study is a proof-of-concept study, and the Item Response Theory will be used to order the 10 items from easiest to most difficult and assess discriminability of items.