Spatial Visualisation Ability and Problem Solving in Civil Engineering

394 Pages·2008·16.62 MB·English

SV Ability and Civil Engineering Problem Solving Content
3. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT FOR MINI-STUDY 4: THE 8-10
STRUCTURAL THEORY EXAMINATION PAPER (ST
PAPER)
4. CONCLUSION 8-11
9. INSTRUMENT EVALUATION: PART I
1 INTRODUCTION 9-1
2 RELIABILITY OF THE SVATI 9-1
3 VALIDITY OF THE SVATI 9-10
4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVING THE 9-14
RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY
5 CONCLUSION 9-15
10. INSTRUMENT EVALUATION: PART H
I. INTRODUCTION 10-1
2. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT FOR MINI-STUDY 2: 10-1
ATTITUDE QUESTIONNAIRE
3. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT FOR MINI-STUDY 3: 10-9
STRUCTURAL DESIGN INSTRUMENT (SDI)
4. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT FOR MINI-STUDY 4: 10-12
STRUCTURAL THEORY INSTRUMENT (ST
EXAMINATION PAPER)
5. CONCLUSION 10-14
11. DATA ANALYSIS FOR MINI-STUDY 1: THE EFFECTS OF
TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SPATIAL VISUALISATION
SKILLS ON SV ABILITY
1. INTRODUCTION 11-1
2. METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS 11-1
3. RESULT OF DATA ANALYSIS ON THE SCORES OF 11-3
THE OVERAL SVATI.
4. DATA ANALYSIS ON THE INDIVIDUAL 11-8
COMPONENTS OF THE SVATI
vi
SV Ability and Civil Engineering Problem Solving Content

5. CONCLUSION 11-20
12. DATA ANALYSIS FOR MINI-STUDY 2: RELATIONSHIPS
BETWEEN ATTITUDE TOWARDS SKETCHING AND DRAWING
AND SPATIAL VISUALISATION ABILITY.
1. INTRODUCTION 12-1

2. IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CIVIL 12-1
ENGINEERING STUDENTS AND ARCHITECTURE
STUDENTS IN THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS S&D?
3. IS THE ASSUMPTION ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS 12-9
BETWEEN THE THREE ATTITUDE CONSTRUCTS
SUPPORTED BY EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE?
4. HOW ARE THE THREE ATTITUDE CONSTRUCTS 12-12
RELATED TO SV ABILITY
5. CONCLUSION 12-16
13. DATA ANALYSIS FOR MINI-STUDY 3: SPATIAL
VISUALISATION ABILITY AND STRUCTURAL DESIGN
PROBLEM SOLVING
1. INTRODUCTION 13-1
2. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SV ABILITY AND 13-1
STRUCTURAL DESIGN PROBLEM SOLVING.
3. EFFECTS OF TEACHING SV SKILLS ON STRUCTUAL 13-4
DESIGN PROBLEM SOLVING.
4. CONCLUSION 13-14
14. DATA ANALYSIS FOR MINI-STUDY 4: SPATIAL
VISUALISATION ABILITY AND PROBLEM SOLVING IN
STRUCTURAL THEORY
1. INTRODUCTION. 14-1
2. METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 14-1
3. RESULTS OF DATA ANALYSIS 14-3
4. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PERFORMANCE ON 14-8
THE SDI AND THE ST PAPER
5. CONCLUSION 14-10
vii
SV Ability and Civil Engineering Problem Solving Content
15. CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
1. INTRODUCTION 15-1
2. DOES TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SV SKILLS 15-1
ENHANCE SV ABILITY?
3. ARE VIEWS, VALUES, ACTION TENDENCY WITH 15-3
RESPECT TO S&D, AND SV ABILITY INTER-RELATED?
4. DOES TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SV SKILLS 15-4
AFFECT PROBLEM SOLVING IN CIVIL ENGINEERING?
5. LIMITATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 15-5
6. IMPLICATIONS 15-7
7. FUTURE RESEARCH 15-8
8. CONCLUSION 15-9
VI"
SV Ability and Civil Engineering Problem Solving Content
4. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PERFORMANCE ON 14-8
THE SDI AND THE ST PAPER
5. CONCLUSION 14-10
15. CONCLUSION, IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
I. INTRODUCTION 15-1
2. DOES TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SV SICILLS 15-1
ENHANCE SV ABILITY?
3. ARE VIEWS, VALUES, ACTION TENDENCY WITH 15-3
RESPECT TO S&D, AND SV ABILITY INTER-RELATED?
4. DOES TEACHING AND LEARNING OF SV SKILLS 15-4
AFFECT PROBLEM SOLVING IN CIVIL ENGINEERING?
5. LIMTTATIONS OF THE RESEARCH 15-5
6. IMPLICATIONS 15-7
7. FUTURE RESEARCH 15-8
8. CONCLUSION 15-9
Abstract
This thesis investigates the relationships between the teaching and learning of spatial
visualisation (SV) skills, problem solving in civil engineering and attitudes towards
sketching and drawing (S&D) in Malaysian polytechnic students. The aims of this
study were (i) to test whether learning materials could influence SV ability and
problem solving skills in civil engineering structural design and structural theory and
(ii) to investigate whether there is any relationship between attitude towards (S&D)
and SV ability. Three constructs, the View of the professional of role of S&D, the
Value of the personal usage of S&D and the Tendency to use S&D were chosen as
attitude indicators.
A pre and post-test quasi-experimental design with a control was employed to
determine the effect of teaching and learning of SV skills on SV ability, and a post-
test only quasi-experimental design with a control to determine the teaching influence
on Civil engineering problem solving skills. A post-test only design was used to
investigate the relationship between attitude towards S&D and SV ability.
The results show that the group taught SV skills had statistically significant gain in SV
ability and statistically significantly higher mean score on structural design problem
solving skills. However, there is no statistically significant difference between the
taught group and the control group in structural theory problem solving skills. The
results also show that there are statistically significant correlations between the View
of the professional role of S&D and the tendency to use S&D and between the
tendency to use S&D and SV ability.
It was concluded that teaching and learning of SV skills enhances SV ability and
structural design problem solving skills and that SV ability is directly related to the
Tendency to use S&D and indirectly related to the View of the professional role of
S&D.
ix
List of Figures
Figure Page
1.1. Opportunity to influence projects quality and cost (The ASCEE 1-2
cited in El-Metwally and Sclaich,. 1993)
1.2. Relationships between the four components (mini-studies) of the 1-6
study.
1.3. Development of the educational system from the pre- 1-9
independence period to the post-independence period.

1.4. The structure of Malaysian National Education system 1-10
1.5. Proportions of polytechnic enrolments in the engineering and 1-15
non-engineering diploma courses.
1.6. Three routes to getting a diploma from a polytechnic. 1-18
1.7. Proportions of time allocated for each of the semester six 1-19
modules
2.1. Hypothetical three-dimensional model showing relationships 2-8
between spatial factors related to task speediness, task
complexity, and mental process. (Lohman et al.,. 1987).
2.2. A set of 2-D spatial tasks arranged in decreasing order of 2-13
complexity and difficulty (Lohman eta!., 1987)
2.3. Percentage of passing by the Grade 12 students on the Piagetian 2-16
tasks.
3.1. The process of civil engineering structural design. 3-3
3.2. A Flow chart illustrating an approximation of the structural 3-4
design process.
3.3. Flow of activities in the structural planning stage 3-5
3.4. Illustrations of the different types of structural actions. 3-7
3.5. A ductile material lengthens when being subjected to a tensile 3-8
action.
3.6. An object shortens when subjected to a compressive action 3-9
3.7. Structural shapes and materials that best resist the identified 3-9
structural action
x
ST- Ability and Civil Engineering Problem Solving List of Figures
Figure Page
3.8. Elevations, cross-sections and stress distributions for two simply 3-11
supported beams.
3.9. The load paths provided by members of a pin-jointed truss.. 3-11
3.10. A simplified of the structural analysis process 3-13
3.11. Visual model of the mathematical functions (a) y = x2 and (b) y = 3-14
ax2 + bx + c.
3.12. Relationship between design problem solving and SV ability 3-15
3.13. Distributions of load from (a) a one-way slab and (b) a two-way 3-17
slab to the supporting beams.
3.14. The general procedure for designing a reinforced concrete 3-19
column.
3.15. The cumulating effects of failure to resolve the relationships 3-21
between axis for rotation, plane of rotations and member
dimensions.
4.1. Instructional Curriculum Map for Structural Design. 4-5
4.2. Higher level skills required for column design 4-9
4.3. The learning hierarchy for generating an initial design of a short 4-10
column.
4.4. The learning hierarchy for judging whether a column is braced, 4-11
which is part of the design evaluation at the ultimate limit state.
4.5. The learning hierarchy for ensuring a column is short. 4-12
4.6. The learning hierarchy for evaluating and ensuring that a column 4-13
is capable of supporting the design loads at the ultimate limit
state.
4.7. The Learning hierarchy for calculating the design loads. 4-14
4.8. The Learning hierarchy for evaluating and design for the 4-15
serviceability limit state.
5.1. Variables map for the study on the effect of teaching and learning 5-12
of SV skills on SV ability.
5.2. Streaming of candidates in the diploma programme in UOP 5-14
xi
SIT Ability and Civil Engineering Problem Solving List of Figures
Figure Page
5.3. The model for the hypothesised relationships between the 5-20
components of attitude towards S&D.
5.4. The hypothesised model for the relationships between attitudes 5-21
and SV ability.
5.5. The variable map for the comparison between attitude towards 5-23
S&D of the architecture subjects and civil engineering subjects.
5.6. The research design for the study on relationships between 5-25
attitudes towards S&D and SV ability.
5.7. Proposed relationships between spatial visualisation ability and 5-27
structural design problem solving.
5.8. The time and sequence of the events in the study 5-29
5.9. The variable map for the Quasi-experimental design study on 5-30
effects of teaching spatial visualisation skills on structural design.
5.10. Proposed relationships between mathematics, Structural theory 5-32
problems and SV ability.
5.11. The time and sequence of events in the study 5-34
5.12. The variable map for the Quasi-experimental design study on the 5-35
effects of teaching SV skills on performance on the structural
theory problems.
6.1. The three-stage development process of the SVATI. 6-3
6.2. A cube construction item showing the stem (on the left) and the 6-5
four alternative responses.
6.3. A typical engineering drawing item of Type 1 6-7
6.4. Distribution of scores on the baseline version SVATI (ii = 20). 6-10
6.5. Comparison between the distribution of scores on the Cube 6-11
construction items and the Engineering drawing items.
6.6. An easy item with aligned surfaces and a relatively difficult item 6-19-
with mis-aligned surfaces.
6.7. Scatter diagram illustrating the relationship between the scores on 6-20
the cube construction items and the engineering drawing items.
6.8. An example of a mental rotation item 6-22
xii
SVAbility and Civil Engineering Problem Solving List ofFigures
Figures Page
7.1. The tri-componential viewpoint on attitude 7-2
7.2. The separate entities viewpoints 7-3
9.1. Item 2 on Cube Construction 9-7
9.2. Item 13 on Engineering drawing. 9-8
9.3. Item 16 on Engineering drawing 9-8
9.4. Item 19 on Engineering drawing 9-9
9.5. Scatter diagram illustrating the relationship between the working 9-13
version SVATI and the MRT (r = 0.74, p < 0.05, ? = 0.55, n =
8)
10.1. Scatter diagram illustrating the relationship between the View of 10-2
the professional role and the Value of the personal usage of S&D
(r = 0.29, p <0.05, n = 76)
10.2. Scatter diagram illustrating the relationship between the Value of 10-3
the personal usage and the Tendency to use S&D (r = 0.39, p <
0.05, n = 76).
10.3. Scatter diagram illustrating the relationship between the View of 10-3
the professional role and the Tendency to use S&D (r = 0.58, p <
0.05, n = 76)
10.4. Distribution of scores on the SDI based on the treatment group 10-10
(ii = 66).
11.1. Distribution of gain scores for the experimental and control 11-3
group. (n,p. = 29 and ncont. = 28): Treatment main effect.
11.2. Graphical representation of the means of the gains scores on the 11-4
SVATI for the male and female samples in the experimental and
control group.
11.3. Distributions of gain scores on the Cube construction items for 11-9
the experimental group (ii = 29) and control group (77 = 28):
Treatment main effect.
11.4. Graphical representation of the means of the gains scores on the 11-10
Cube construction items for the male and female samples in the
experimental and control group.
SI'Ability and Civil Engineering Problem Solving List of Figures
Figure Page
11.5. Distributions of gain scores on the Engineering drawing items for 11-13
the experimental group (n = 29) and the control group (n = 28):
Treatment main effect.
11.6. Graphical representation of the means of the gain scores on the 11-14
Engineering drawing items for the male and female samples in the
experimental and control group.
11.7. Distributions of gain scores on the Mental rotation items for the 11-16
experimental group (n = 29) and the group control = 28):
(17
Treatment main effect.
11.8. Graphical representation of the means of the gain scores on the 11-17
Mental rotation items for the male and female samples in the
experimental and control group.
12.1. Distribution of scores on the View of the professional role of 12-3
S&D for the Civil engineering = 57) and the Architecture
(17 (11 =
19) groups.
12.2. The smoothed frequency polygon for the scores on the View of 12-4
the Professional role of S&D.
12.3. Distribution of scores on the Value of the personal usage of S&D 12-6
for the Civil engineering, el = 57) and the Architecture 19)
(17
groups.
12.4. Distribution of scores on the Tendency to use S&D for the Civil 12-7
engineering, (17= 57) and the Architecture, (17 = 19) groups.
12.5. Scatter diagram illustrating the relationship between the View of 12-10
the professional role of S&D and the Tendency to use S&D (r
p <0.05, 57).
17 =
12.6. Venn diagram illustrating the shared variances between the View 12-11
of the professional role of S&D and the Tendency to use S&D.
12.7. Scatter diagram illustrating the relationship between the Value of 12-11
personal usage of S&D and the Tendency to use S&D (r = 0.14,
n.s, 17 =57).
12.8. Scatter diagram illustrating the relationship between the View of 12-12
the professional role of S&D and the Value of personal usage of
S&D (r = 0.07, n.s, n 57)
xiv