Spatial Ability Evaluated by a Mental Cutting Test- Comparison between Photo-Stereographic, Real Solid and Standard Mental Cutting Test -

摘要

We have administered a Real Solid Mental Cutting Test (RS-MCT) for investigate student's spatial ability with a few subjects. In this paper, We report results of a Photo-Stereographic Mental Cutting Test (PS-MCT) in which the problems are given as stereo paired photographs of real solid models with large number of subjects. The principal results of the experiments are as follows. 1) The correct response rates on the PS-MCT and RS-MCT were only higher than those on the standard MCT for some of the problems. There was no difference for most of the problems. 2) Detailed analysis of the alternatives selected by subjects showed that, when there was a higher rate of correct responses on the PS-MCT, it was due to an easier recognition of objects and of the relative locations of cutting planes. This, in turn, indicates that many errors in the corresponding problems on the standard MCT occur during the processes of recognizing objects and the relative locations of cutting planes. It also indicates that, in problems for which the rates of correct responses do not vary on the PS-MCT, many errors occurred in generating sections through objects by using the cutting planes, processing invisible parts of problems, and judging quantities.