Using eye gaze to reveal cognitive processes and strategies of engineering students when solving spatial rotation and mental cutting tasks

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dc.contributor.authorHsing, Hsiang-Wenen
dc.contributor.authorBairaktarova, Dianaen
dc.contributor.authorLau, Nathanen
dc.date.accessioned2023-04-11T12:47:33Zen
dc.date.available2023-04-11T12:47:33Zen
dc.date.issued2023-01en
dc.description.abstractBackground: Spatial problem-solving is an essential skill for success in many engineering disciplines; thus, understanding the cognitive processes involved could help inform the design of training interventions for students trying to improve this skill. Prior research has yet to investigate the differences in cognitive processes between spatial tasks in problem-solving to offer learners timely feedback. Purpose/Hypothesis: In this study, we investigated how different spatial tasks change the cognitive processes and problem-solving strategies used by engineering students with low spatial ability. Design/Method: Study participants completed mental rotation and mental cutting tasks of high and low difficulty. Eye-tracking data were collected and categorized as encoding, transformation, and confirmation cognitive processes. The adoption of either a holistic or piecemeal strategy and response accuracy were also measured. Results: Mental rotation was found to have a higher number of fixations for each cognitive process than the mental cutting task. The holistic strategy was used in both difficulty levels of the mental cutting task, while the piecemeal strategy was adopted for the mental rotation task at a high difficulty level. Only encoding fixations were significantly correlated with accuracy and most strongly correlated with strategy. Conclusion: Encoding is an important cognitive process that could affect subsequent cognitive processes and strategies and could, thus, play an important role in performance. Future development in spatial training should consider how to enhance encoding to aid students with low spatial ability. Educators can utilize gaze metrics and empirical research to provide tailored and timely feedback to learners.en
dc.description.notesACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors thank the reviewers for their insightful feedback on our manuscript. This research is in part supported by the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program of the National Science Foundation (Award Number 1839946).en
dc.description.sponsorshipFuture of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier program of the National Science Foundation; [1839946]en
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20495en
dc.identifier.eissn2168-9830en
dc.identifier.issue1en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/114465en
dc.identifier.volume112en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherAmerican Society for Engineering Educationen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectcognitive processesen
dc.subjecteye-trackingen
dc.subjectfirst-year engineering studentsen
dc.subjectspatial abilityen
dc.titleUsing eye gaze to reveal cognitive processes and strategies of engineering students when solving spatial rotation and mental cutting tasksen
dc.title.serialJournal of Engineering Educationen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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Scholarly Works, Industrial and Systems Engineering
Scholarly Works, Engineering Education