cqvip:Graphic science is the subject which teaches geometry and graphics, and is taught in early undergraduate curricula at many Japanese universities as a liberal arts subject or as a basic subject for design and drawing. In traditional graphic science courses, descriptive geometry based on hand drawings was taught. However, in recent years, there continues to be a rapid spread in the use of 3D-CAD in the field of engineering design and drawing, and there is also increasing use of CG in many fields such as for visualization of computer simulation results in science, and for image display in the movie and game entertainment fields. So there is a need for graphic presentation education including the competence in the use of 3D-CAD/CG, or 'graphics literacy(or visual literacy) education' for a wide range of students. In order to realize graphics literacy education, from 2007, a new graphic science curriculum has been started at the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Tokyo. The main part of the curriculum consists of Graphic Science I and Graphic Science II. With Graphic Science I, as before, traditional descriptive geometry is taught with hand drawing as the base. With Graphic Science II, commercial graphic processing software can be experienced. In this course, by introducing geometric problems as examples and assignments, it is designed to mutually complement with descriptive geometry education(Graphic Science I). With the spread of 3D-CAD/CG, some people say that there is no longer any need for descriptive geometry, but for the following reasons, it has been decided to teach descriptive geometry. 1) Traditional descriptive geometry is an excellent method in teaching and learning geometry of projection and of three-dimensional objects, and concepts and/or procedures in descriptive geometry can be applied in solving geometric design problems by the use of 3D-CAD/CG. 2) Even in this age of 3D-CAD/CG, hand drawing is still being used(especially for free-hand sketches). 3) Hand drawing is an effective method of developing spatial ability of students. However, with the spread of 3D-CAD/CG, the descriptive geometry techniques in analyzing shapes and forms of three-dimensional objects are now loosing their earlier practical importance. So emphasis is not being placed on the education of practical techniques, but is being placed on teaching the theory behind the techniques, i.e., geometry of projection and of three-dimensional objects. This paper reports specific examples of classes in order to describe the importance of descriptive geometry education, and the need to switch from education focused on techniques to education on the theory behind the techniques.
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