Abstract:

Spatial skills figure as competencies to be acquired in numerous degrees in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) field. Engineers use spatial skills to design, graph, interpret, and understand their work environment. A planned strategy for the acquisition of spatial skills in the study plans of STEM degrees will allow the development of more complex skills, which are necessary to solve problems and provide different solutions around a project.

Engineers work with projects, which are developed in a landscape environment. In this type of work environment, technologies such as VR (virtual reality) and games engines offer great opportunities for 3D visualization, representation, design and interpretation of the territory. In tasks related to the management of the territory and the environment, engineers need to establish positional relationships between the project and a geographical environment, for which it is necessary to make use of spatial orientation skill, one of the main components of spatial skills.

This article presents a strategy (a workshop) designed for the development of the spatial orientation skill using a VR landscape environment created with Unity 3D game engine, in which navigation-orientation tasks are proposed. Navigation tasks in virtual environments are very common in those projects that are developed in a geographical environment represented graphically through 3D visualizations using VR technologies.

The 3D virtual landscape environment performed for the workshop has been created for viewing on a computer screen, using the mouse or keyboard controls to move around the 3D model. In this way, the student can use their own laptop to carry out the workshop according with the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend, which is important in the face of possible restrictions such as those that have recently been due to Covid-19. The tool to measure the spatial orientation skill is the Perspective-Taking Spatial Orientation Test, which has been and is being used in numerous researches in the STEM field.

The workshop is structured in four phases:
1: Perspective Taking Spatial Orientation test (pre). 5 minutes.
2: Instruction. 1/2 h.
3: Navigation-orientation tasks. 11/2 hours.
4: Perspective Taking Spatial Orientation test (post). 5 minutes.

In this article, a strategy created specifically for the development of spatial orientation skill is presented and made available to teachers and researchers. A virtual environment, activities within that environment (navigation-orientation tasks) and a spatial orientation skill measurement tool (Perspective Taking Spatial Orientation Test) are provided. Therefore, teachers and/or researchers can carry out the workshop and compare the results of improving spatial orientation skill, if they occur, with other previous studies in which the same measurement tool has been used.

The proposed navigation-orientation tasks, as well as the 3D virtual environment itself created, are just a starting example for different orientation tasks during navigation that can be carried out in a 3D environment. In turn, the workshop developed in this research can serve as a starting point for planning strategies aimed at improving spatial orientation skill in STEM Higher Education using 3D VR virtual environments.

Keywords:

Virtual reality, spatial skills, spatial orientation, navigation, STEM.