Getting Started with Spatial Vis™

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Spatial Vis™ is ideal for CTE, Intro to Engineering, Design, and CAD Courses.

Spatial Visualization has been shown to increase graduation rates and grades in STEM courses. Sketching 2D and 3D views is a key part of learning these skills. Spatial Vis makes it easier to teach and more engaging for students to learn these skills through immediate and personalized feedback. The app is especially well suited for CAD and Design courses, and builds skills for enhancing creativity and teamwork.

 
Infographic showing a controlled trial results

In a controlled trial, the section that used Spatial Vis™ saw over a 3 times increase in the number of students who significantly improved their SV scores.

See the Results page for more on the benefits of freehand sketching of 2D and 3D shapes for STEM majors.

Classroom Implementation

The app can be assigned as homework, since it provides automatic grading and hints when needed. However, if time permits we have developed lectures and hands-on activities to provide classroom activities that increase student engagement. Our teaching resources include:

  • Free Teacher Account

    • The app is free to download, but only provides grading for the first few assignments in each lesson. We give Teachers full access to evaluate the app.

  • Best Practices

    • How to promote persistence.

    • Recommended assignment lists.

    • Integrating grades.

    • Quantifying improvements with pre and post testing.

  • Teaching Resources

    • Lecture Slides for each lesson of the app.

    • Hands-on Activities and Worksheets that can be integrated into the classroom.

Testimonials
Dr. Jeff Raquet

“Projected views and Orthogonal projection tend to be points of weakness of new engineering students. We teach Engineering Drawings and Orthogonal projections early in the curriculum, but it really takes practice to grasp this topic. With classes of hundreds of students, it is difficult to provide quick and appropriate feedback to students’ shortfalls. Spatial Vis provides a tool that allows students to complete multiple exercises and receive quick feedback and guidance as they work through the assignments”

Dr. Jeff Raquet
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

"My students almost all resoundingly love Spatial Vis. Many go beyond what I have assigned and even work ahead they enjoy it so much. It has also been really neat for students who never realized they had pretty advanced and sophisticated abilities to make those realizations as they work through the exercise and as they engage with 3D design and fabrication with Tinkercad and our 3D printers and laser cutter”

Ethan Greenberg
Lovett Instructor

"Excellent tool for remote learning or in-person learning. Helps students develop important skills for CAD and Technical Sketching"

Jake Fullington
Shelton High School Instructor

The primary reason for incorporating Spatial vis in the MER-101 course is to make hand-drawing more appealing to students. Students practiced plenty of 2D orthographic projections and 3D isometric drawings using the Spatial Vis app, as the app allowed unlimited attempts to get the answers right, and when the students could not answer correctly, the app provided hints for reduced points. As they were graded instantly by the app, it was a lot of fun for students to complete the hand-drawing exercises.

Spatial vis app helped in most certainly improving:

  • student participation in completing all the homework.

  • student performance in the hand-drawing midterms.

It even resulted in some students exploring and going beyond what is typically covered in the MER-101 course.

Prof. Pradeep Gudlur

Union College

"My students were all able to use the app independently as homework, and I saw remarkable progress in spatial visualization skills, especially among those starting with low skill levels"

Prof. Gordon Hoople
University of San Diego

"The best thing about the app is it’s available anytime, whether I’m waiting for someone to pick me up, waiting for my food or simply in the restroom. It’s ideal for its reach-ability"

Spatial Vis Student

"During this in and out virtual year, I am glad we chose to use this app. This app really teaches students how to hand sketch single view, orthographically, isometrically, and 3d visualizations without advanced verbal instruction”

Daniel Arnett
Hampton High School Instructor

"The activities are fun! They don't seem like homework!"

Spatial Kids Student

"Ever since implementing Spatial Vis into my program it has been very effective in getting the students focused on a task relative to sketching and that has been huge"

Stephen Marsh
Cabrillo High School Instructor

"Spatial Visualization is a good skill to develop! I think the app was fun to use and I did improve!" 

Spatial Vis Student

For a virtual demonstration or advice on how to integrate our products into your classroom, please contact us.