Assessing Visualization Abilities In Minority Engineering Students

The numbers of minority students in the academic areas of science and engineering (S&E) have increased significantly in recent years. Despite initial success in recruitment efforts, the numbers of these minority students not completing their studies still remain higher than that of their non-minority peers. Visualization is a significant factor in the creation of mental models and in interacting with the often abstract concepts that are important for success in S&E fields. An ongoing study recently found that a particular sample of minority engineering and technology students at a historically black university scored statistically significantly lower on the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Visualization of Rotations (PSVT) than did a sample of non-minority engineering students at a primarily majority serving institution. This paper discusses those PSVT pretest results and the results of the same test given as a posttest following a semester of instruction. The pretest scores of the initial sample of minority subjects are also compared to another group of minority subjects who took the same course in a following semester. Factors potentially affecting the success and preparation level of the subjects are also addressed including previous academic achievement, scores on standardized tests, and entry requirements of the different institutions the subjects attend.