Exploring spatial ability in healthcare students and the relationship to training with virtual and actual objects

• Published in: European journal of dental education Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 310 - 316
• Main Authors: Sezer, Baris, Sezer, Tufan Asli, Elcin, Melih
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2022
• Subjects: Anatomy; Anatomy & physiology; Anatomy - education; Delivery of Health Care; Dental schools; Education, Dental; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods; Educational Measurement - methods; healthcare education; Humans; Medical education; Nursing; Nursing education; short‐term training; spatial ability; Spatial Navigation; Students; Students, Medical; Visual perception; healthcare education; anatomy education; spatial ability; short-term training
• ISSN: 1396-5883; 1600-0579
• DOI: 10.1111/eje.12705

Introduction The relationship between the spatial ability levels of students and anatomy education is not well established in the literature, but it was stated that students should take short‐term training during the first years of their education. There is limited number of studies on this topic. In that respect, the aim of this study was to determine the spatial ability levels of medical, dental and nursing students and to evaluate whether this ability level showed difference with respect to faculty, anatomy courses attended or short‐term training, or not. Materials and Methods Study sample was composed of 1071 students. Data were collected by Personal Information Form, Visualization of Views Test (VoVT) and Cross Section Test (CST). Data analyses were done by SPSS 21 package software. Results Students were determined to have medium level spatial ability. Medical and dental students were found to have higher spatial ability levels than nursing students. Medical and nursing students’ CST scores showed significant difference after taking anatomy course. After short‐term training, both CST and VoVT scores of students differed significantly. Conclusion Supporting anatomy courses with education materials appropriate for the spatial ability level of students and introducing spatial ability development trainings in small groups would aid in increasing spatial ability levels of students.