웹 기반 가상현실 프로그램과 지필 학습 프로그램이 공간시각화 능력에 미치는 영향 -성별을 중심으로-

The Gender-Related Effects of a Web-Based Virtual Reality Program and a Paper-Based Program on Spatial Visualization Skills of Middle School Students

This study was conducted to investigate the gender-related effects of two instructional programs on spatial visualization skills of ninth grade students. Two instructional programs were developed for this study: a web-based virtual reality program and a paper-based program. 194 ninth graders from two middle schools in Seoul participated in this study. Six classes were divided into experimental groups and control groups. The Middle Grades Mathematics Projects (MGMP) Spatial Visualization Test was used to measure spatial visualization skills. The data analysis indicated that both the web-based and paper-based programs were effective to improve spatial visualization skills to treatment groups. Although boys'test mean scores were higher than girls' in the pretest, when deleting the effect of covariance of pretest, there were no statistical significance in the post-test. Girls in the treatment groups favored the paper-based spatial visualization program. These results imply that spatial training may benefit girls' performance more than that of boys and mode of instructional programs can create gender-related differences regarding spatial visualization skills.