One area in which medical students can add significant value is medical education, and involving them as key stakeholders in their education can have a profound impact on students and the institutions that serve them. However, detailed descriptions of the structure, implementation and quality of programs facilitating student engagement are lacking. We describe the structure of a novel student engagement program at the University of Illinois College of Medicine-Chicago (UICOM-Chicago) known as the Student Curricular Board (SCB). We surveyed 563 medical students across all levels of training at our institution in order to examine the impact of this program, including its strengths and potential areas of improvement. The SCB serves as a highly structured and collaborative student group that has far-reaching involvement from course-level program evaluation to longitudinal curriculum design. Medical stu-Joseph R. Geraghty and Alexandria N. Young contributed equally to this work. A version of the ideas described herein was presented as a poster and oral presentation at the Association of American Medical Colleges Central Group on Educational Affairs (CGEA) meeting in Chicago, IL, 29-31 March 2017.

Spatial ability, such as the ability to correctly visualize three dimensional objects when they are represented in two dimensions (such as in ComputerAided Design (CAD) software or in a detailed part drawing), is an essential skill for engineers. Research has shown that spatial ability is positively correlated with retention and performance of students within other disciplines which rely on spatial ability, (e.g. chemistry). However, whether spatial ability affects the retention of students in engineering has been disputed in the literature. Furthermore, research has not yet been conducted which assesses the relationship between self efficacy, that is the student's confidence, with respect to spatial skills and retention. In this paper, results of both spatial ability, using a subset of the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test: Rotations (PSVT:R), and self efficacy, using a developed test for this research, will be presented for over 200 students from five different engineering disciplines. Statistically significant differences were found for gender, type of CAD training, class standing and whether or not the student is declared or undeclared in engineering with respect to self efficacy and/or spatial ability.

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One component of spatial ability is the ability to correctly visualize a three dimensional object when it is represented in two dimensional space. Research has shown that spatial ability is positively correlated with retention and performance of students in disciplines which rely heavily on spatial reasoning (e.g. chemistry, engineering, etc.) and that males typically outperform females on standard spatial ability tests. In addition, research has shown that spatial ability can be improved through training, such as that received in a Computer Aided Design (CAD) course or by focused spatial training. However, which type of training provides the most beneficial improvements to spatial ability is not well known and whether other means to improve spatial ability would be more effective. In this research project, two tools to use in spatial ability training are being developed. One tool, a Physical Model Rotator (PMR), rotates a physical model of an object in synchronous motion with a model of the same object in CAD software. The other training tool, the Alternative View Screen (AVS), provides the user of CAD software with both a solid model (including shading) and a line version view of the object. Students with poor spatial ability will be identified through testing and the effects of training with these two tools will be assessed.

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