Engineering Self-Efficacy and Spatial Skills: A Systematic Literature Review

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

6-23-2024

Department

Department of Engineering Fundamentals

Abstract

[Blinded University] administers the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PSVT:R) to incoming First-Year engineering students at orientation. Students who score less than 60 percent on the PSVT:R are required to take a spatial visualization skills intervention course, ENG1002 Intro to Spatial Visualization. In the fall semester of 2022, approximately 15 percent of students enrolled in the First-Year Engineering Program were required to enroll in ENG1002. This resulted in five class offerings of ENG1002 with approximately 30 students per class.

Questions exist as to why engineering students who complete Intro to Spatial Visualization at [Blinded University] attain higher average grades in their other courses, such as Calculus I and II, and Chemistry [1], and why the retention rate, especially of women, is higher historically for students who have taken Intro to Spatial Visualization [2]. One possible explanation is related to students' feelings about and confidence in their abilities to gain the skills they know to be important to engineers and attain their goals (self-efficacy) of becoming an engineer after overcoming the obstacle of failing an assessment of 3-D spatial visualization skills administered at the onset of their engineering program. Researchers believe self-efficacy is related to academic performance and retention [3], leading to the completion of a degree. As Bandura [4] contended, “Unless people believe they can produce desired results and forestall detrimental ones by their actions, they have little incentive to act or to persevere in the face of difficulties” [4, pp. 10]. Students with higher self-efficacy believe they have the ability to increase their skills. There are experiences and activities that increase the self-efficacy of undergraduate engineering students, as found by Usher, et al. in [5]. Interestingly, these are all outlined in Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory [6], including positive feedback on skill development, receiving positive affirmations from trusted others, viewing others working in careers of interest, and experiencing the work they are interested in themselves. Kennedy [5] studied the effects of each of these experiences and found them all to increase self-efficacy in engineering skills. Furthermore, researchers have identified spatial ability as important for engineering modeling and design [7]. This systematic literature review examines the relationship between spatial abilities and self-efficacy in engineering.

Publisher's Statement

Publisher's permanent URL can be found here

https://peer.asee.org/47290

Publication Title

ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS