The educational implications of facilitating three-dimensional perception during adolescence for training in technical drawing

M.Ed.On the roads of South Africa an attitude of apathy toward the road death toll seems to be evident. Many of these deaths are pedestrians (Omar, 2001. htm) and could possibly be related to the lack of three-dimensional perception. The skill of three-dimensional perception should ideally be developed in the early childhood stages of development. Were this the case, very few problems would arise in the interpretation of three -dimensional drawings in the subject of Technical Drawing. Unfortunately this study has shown that this development has not taken place as effectively as desired. This,therefore, emphasises the need to have this skill developed even if it is in the adolescent years of the learner. The aim of this study is to ascertain if the three-dimensional perception of an adolescent can be developed at such a late stage of life. The express purpose is to empower the adolescent in the interpretation of three-dimensional perception of Technical Drawing sketches. This is achieved by incorporating three views of a sketch as an aid to reproduce a three-dimensional sketch. The research design and methods are discussed as well as the validity and reliability of the pre- and post testa A quasi-experimental research design was employed to enable the researcher to accumulate quantifiable data. This approach was employed so as to compare numerous groups and hereby identify similarities and differences between the adolescents' ability to perceive in three dimensions. The design that was employed made use of a questionnaire developed by the researcher from existing excerpts of instrumental enrichment exercises known as Organisation of Dots (Feuerstein, 1980). This questionnaire was used both as a pre- and post test. This questionnaire consisting of eight items was completed by 83 learners. These learners were divided into eight school class groups. The class names were placed in a hat and randomly drawn. The first group drawn from the hat was the control group. The second group drawn from the hat was the placebo group. This implied that any of the remaining 2 groups could benefit from the study were they to be drawn and labelled as the experimental group. The learners had to complete the pre-test so as to determine to what degree of threedimensions they could perceive. The elucidation and data analysis exhibited the following: There is a substantial difference on the 5% level of significance in three-dimensional perception between the pre- and post test results of the adolescents who participated in the psycho-educational program; Three-dimensional perception of adolescents developed marginally in the placebo group on the 1% level of significance between the pre- and post tests. This is possibly due to the influence of daily teaching and normal development; and There appeared to be an improvement in the self-worth of the adolescents that participated in the psycho-educational program although this was not researched. This information was garnered from a quantitative question posed to the learners after the completion of the program (See Appendix F for this question). Educators in the field of Technical Drawing constantly experience frustration at the lack of development of three-dimensional perception in learners. It is for this reason that the above mentioned findings can be utilised in the improvement of the three-dimensional perception of all learners who select Technical Drawing as a subject. This has far-reaching implications in education as this skill can now be developed in study fields other than Technical Drawing as well. The development of three-dimensional perception can be developed even as far as artisan training and learner driver training is concerned (Learn2Drive3D, 2007). This training could thus reduce the high incidence of carnage due road accidents in South Africa