Spatial skills of engineering students in the United Arab Emirates

Spatial skills are known to be important to success in engineering, and in particular, to success in engineering graphics/CAD courses. Recent studies demonstrate the link between spatial skills and creativity and innovation. Student spatial skills have been widely studied in the U.S., but work in this area in other parts of the world has been somewhat limited. In a recent data analysis in the U.S, the spatial skills of students by region of origin were examined and it was found that students from Africa, India, and the Middle East tended to have weaker spatial skills when compared to domestic students; however, it is unknown whether this is merely a reflection of the student population who chooses study in the U.S. or if it is generally true for the populations in these regions. In this study, we examined the spatial skills of second year engineering students at the Petroleum Institute in the United Arab Emirates. This paper will outline our findings, comparing the spatial skills of students in the UAE to...