Effect of type of practice in a computer-aided design environment in visualizing three-dimensional objects from two-dimensional orthographic projections.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of practice in manipulating 2- and 3-dimensional (D) wireframe images on a learner's ability to visualize 3-D objects. Practice, either rotational or not, consisted of visualizing 2- and 3-D objects generated by personal computer (PC)-based computer-assisted design software. Results indicated that participants in the rotation treatment group performed significantly better than those in either the nonrotation or control group on measures of spatial ability and 3-D visualization ability. Both treatment groups performed significantly better than the control group on measures of metacognition, effort, and worry. These results support a conclusion that spatial ability can be improved through practice that allows the learner to see the relationship between the 2-D and 3-D features of objects.