After a previous blog post
Spatial Ability and Building Models I really wanted to get more feedback from the model aviation community on the content of that article. Posting on two free flight model aviation forums generated more discussion than I would have imagined. In about a week there were over 400 views and many comments on
Hip Pocket Aeronautics Builder's Forum. Discussion was a little slow to get started on the Free Flight Mailing List but then
Tim Goldstein owner of A2Z Corp a great source for model aviation supplies gave a challenge of a test and to publish your score.
The explanation of the test found on the
website is as follows:
"This is for a university psych project. We are trying out this new form of
spatial ability test. It is much harder than most tests, and the mean score from
our testing so far has been 3.64/9. Your participation is helping us get more
reliable data for these items and is very much appreciated."
The model airplane builders would appear from the scores submitted to be must more proficient in spatial ability than the average person with scores of at least 6 and some at a perfect 9.
Gary Hinze that had a top score made this comment about the connection he saw between model aviation and spatial ability:
"What does this have to
do with model airplanes? Relational skills, problem solving skills,
spacial imagination, reading drawings, all involve skills used by modelers.
Some of the skills relate primarily to geometric figures, some generalize
to other kinds of activities. Some modeling skills may have nothing to do
with the skills exhibited by this test."
Bill Kuhl
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