Predicting Academic Success of Engineering Students in Technical Drawing from Visualization Test Scores

While observing the di-culties of flrst-year engineering students toward learning technical drawing, taking into account the progressively reduced work time with them, and recognizing the importance of spatial aptitude in the engineeringprofession,wefeelthenecessitytoimprovetheteachingmethodologies inthissubject. Inouropinion,inordertoefiectivelyplanthedidacticprocess,itis necessarytodetectasearlyaspossiblethosestudentswhorequiremoreattention andsupport. This study proposes an investigation of a visualization psychometric test that could facilitate an early diagnosis concerning the academic performance of tech- nicaldrawingstudents. To this end, a computerized version of the Mental Cutting Test (MCT) was car- ried out on a sample of Brazilian engineering students from the Paulista State University at Guaratingueta Campus (UNESP) and fromthe PolytechnicSchool ofSaoPauloUniversity(EPUSP). The test was analyzed by the Item Response Theory, with the Rasch model, a measurement model with optimal properties in order to estimate the level in spatialaptitudeoftheexaminees. TheresultssuggestthatMCTcanbeusefulin detectingthosestudentswithdifierentperformancelevelsintechnicaldrawing.

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