Potential of AR for the Analysis and Training of Spatial Skills: A Case Study

Good spatial skills are of particular importance in STEM domains. For the training of spatial skills, smartphones provide a promising platform because of their high dissemination. Additionally, new frameworks make it easy to develop and use augmented reality (AR) contents. To examine the potential of AR for the training of spatial skills, we developed a prototype of a smartphone app for the solving of cross section tasks.The prototype was tested in a user study with 32 university students. It was compared against a second prototype with a classical Arcball interaction. For both prototypes, success rates were equally high. However, 3D-objects could be rotated faster using the AR-app. For the AR-app, participants reported higher scores regarding innovation and motivation but also for physical demands. This is especially interesting because motor activity and spatial skills are highly connected. Therefore, the physical approach might be promising for the development of spatial skill training apps which might lead to good long-term training results.