A Preliminary Survey of Thai Students’ Pencil Grasps in Engineering Drawing Chairote Kunpanitchakit, Ratchatin Chancharoen, Saowaluk Rungsup and Kuntinee Maneeratana Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, 254 Phaya Thai Road, Bangkok 10330 Thailand E-mail: chairote.k@chula.ac.th, ratchatin.c@chula.ac.th, rungsup.win@gmail.com, kuntinee.m@chula.ac.th ABSTRACT Different pencil gripping positions were observed in Engineering Drawing practice sessions. Students were asked to classify their grasp type from a list of common positions. In all, 45 students with mature grasps participated; 27% identified themselves as tripod grippers - the traditionally optimal grasp - while 30% were quadrupod, 18% lateral tripod, 11% lateral quadrupod and 14% tripod without web space. However, due to the self-identification from image with minimal descriptions, there might be some classification mistakes. However, all of these mature grasps seemed to offer functional performances without significant difference in speed and agility. Keyword: Adult, Pencil Grasp, Engineering Drawing, Sketching Speed 1. Introduction The 2103102 Engineering Drawing was a compulsory course for 2nd year students in the Chemical Technology and Material Science Programs, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University. The course descriptions were applied geometry; dimensions and notes; orthographic sketch and drawing: 3rd angle and 1st angle; pictorial sketch and drawing; thread and fastener; section and convention; working drawing: detail and assembly drawing. This was a 3-credit course with one hour of lecture and 4 hours of practice each week. The main learning difference between this course and the 2103106 Fundamental Engineering Drawing for engineering students was the emphasis on sketching and no computer-aid drafting. During practice sessions in the second semester of the academic year of 2011, different pencil gripping positions by students were observed. This observation was not new as atypical pencil grasps [1-2] and related handwriting movements [3- 4] were studied with increasing complicate measurements and evaluation in real [5-6] and virtual environments [7]. The gained knowledge was applied in many fields such as product design [8] disability assistance [9] and rehabilitation [10], etc. In Thailand, however, the number of reports on these topics seemed to be few and associated with pre- school children or elementary school pupils [11-12]. Different grasps affect the accuracy and speed of the writing and drawing. It was known to affect academic performance in children [13] and might be an issue in university students [14]. Hence, they might very slightly affect the students’ performance in engineering drawing. This preliminary survey was conducted on the types of pencil grasps with respect to the educational background as well as simple writing and sketching speed. 2. Pencil Grasp Patterns The pencil gripping skill was developed during childhood. A study [1] presented the typical developmental progression of pencil grasp from the (a) palmar supinate grasp which was found in 1-2 years old, (b) digital pronate grasp in 2-3 years old, (c) static or dynamic tripod grasp in 4-6 years old children. It was this dynamic tripod grasp (Figure 1, c) that had been considered the optimal grasp for handwriting performance in terms of speed, agility and less fatigue.