Author(s):
Free-hand sketching plays a vital role throughout the engineering design process. It aids in externalizing ideas as individuals generate concepts, supports communication between engineers and stakeholders, assists in reducing complex systems into free-body diagrams, and many other aspects of engineering. Unfortunately, many engineers currently receive little to no instruction in this critical skill. Further complicating the issue is that early engineering classes are often large and many current faculty did not learn to free-hand sketch. There is a critical need for a solution that can both teach 2D-perspective sketching and provide the necessary human-like feedback without additional burden to or expertise needed by the engineering instructor. The grant further developed Sketchtivity, an arti?cial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), sketch-recognition based tutoring system that allows students to sketch just as they would with pencil and paper while also providing iterative and real-time, feedback on their sketching. This talk will focus on the benefits of sketch skills for students and how these skills can be taught in only five weeks of sketching instruction in freshmen engineering courses. Increased sketch skill improves the number of ideas generated and improves spatial visualization skills. We also find that higher sketching skills are associated with using sketching in a variety of ways, and spatial visualization skills and design self-efficacy are associated with sketching more frequently. The relationships uncovered were emphasized by their longevity: spatial skills and sketching skills in students’ first semesters predicted sketching more frequently in a senior capstone design course.
