Improving the teaching-learning process of graphic engineering students through strengthening of their spatial skills

Abstract

The engineering profession, in its various branches, is developed around the design, planning, construction, maintenance,etc. of products, equipment and services that are characterized by three-dimensional realities. Consequently, one of theskills that all engineering professionals must develop extensively during their training is the mental handling of this three-dimensional reality. This competence is called a Spatial Skill, a cognitive skill that, with the proper training, may beimproved. Teachers of Graphic design must therefore develop a series of learning activities that enable students to acquire,develop and improve their spatial skill levels. For this purpose, we have developed training using several technologies, suchas Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and PDF3D. In this paper we have compared these three technologieswith the intention of finding which one(s) of them yields the best results as a training tool and improves the academic resultsof students in the subject of Engineering Graphics.