Investigating the use of Axonometric Projection in Drawing Maps and its Effect on Students' Spatial Ability: A Case Study of Isometrics

Abstract

The urgent need to acquire the spatial ability of students of Kabul Polytechnic University, which is considered one of the leading engineering universities in Afghanistan, constitutes the purpose of the research. Therefore, the main question is whether teaching axonometric in the traditional way can meet the main goal stated in the national curriculum, which is to increase the spatial ability of students. To answer this question, this article reviews axonometrics, its types, and application areas. It is worth mentioning that no research has been conducted in Afghanistan so far on the factors that develop students' spatial visualization skills together with applied geometry concepts and other graphic activities that strengthen or limit spatial ability. This article aims to investigate students' spatial visualization skills after completing the first year of teaching engineering graphics and its effect on strengthening spatial abilities, in which the role of axonometric teaching is appropriate. To verify the results of the case study approach, data were collected from the experiences of 7 professors of engineering graphics in the Department of Technical Drawing at Kabul Polytechnic University, and interviews were conducted with 42 first-year students of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the end of the second semester. Data were collected through an open questionnaire, focused discussion on the topic, arrangement and organization of lessons, observations from the teaching process, and interviews. The results of the exams show that the professors were able to improve the spatial ability of the students by teaching different types of axonometric, especially isometrics.