The research was carried out in 2011 among 22 pupils from 14 – 15years old. The purpose of the pilot study was to determine the influence of 3D modeling on the spatial visualization of pupils, as well as the gender difference in the spatial visualization of the tested pupils and the progress of this visualization in individual genders. In addition, it tried to determine whether the sensory style of the pupils, visual, auditory or kinesthetic, influences spatial perception and the development of spatial visualization.
Pupils were divided into two groups, the test group and the control group. Pupils in the test group attended a 3D modeling extra-curricular activity for twelve teaching hours in the second evaluation period of the 2010/2011 school year. Spatial visualization was determined with a modified spatial visualization test, namely before the extra-curricular activity and afterwards. The modified test consisted of different spatial visualization tests: PSVT: R, MCT, MRT, DAT: SR, and tests of rotation within a plane. For 3D modeling exercises pupils used the open-source software Google SketchUp. None of the tested pupils have encountered the mentioned software before.
After a second testing, the test group showed greater progress in solving spatial visualization tasks in comparison with the control group, while gender differences were minimal. The results of the spatial visualization test were also compared with the sensory style of pupils, which was filled out by all the pupils included in the study.
In the 2011/2012 school year a broader study is underway, involving almost two hundred pupils of various elementary schools in Slovenia.