The Nation's community and technical colleges are recognized as key institutions in the development of a globally competitive science and engineering technician workforce. The project will bring together a team of community and technical college faculty and administrators, curriculum developers, and evaluators in an effort to adapt and implement instruction that develops and enhances students' spatial skills. The curriculum materials and instructional strategies will be adapted to an online environment for students in technician programs in advanced technology fields in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM. The project team will examine how student demographics and student performance on a test that assesses mental rotation are related to student success in introductory courses that require spatial ability.
The project will focus on selected programs at the following partner institutions.
*Tidewater Community College (Computer Aided Drafting and Design, Civil Engineering Technology, Electronic Technology);
*McHenry Community College (Applied Science in Construction Management, Architectural and Engineering Design Technology, Applied Science in Engineering Technology, Applied Science in Manufacturing Management, and Applied Science in Robotics Systems Engineering);
*Tunxis Community College (Engineering Technology and other programs in the engineering disciplines);
*Del Mar College (Engineering Technology, Game Technology and Simulation, Geographic Information Science and Cartography Technology).
