PGE/SEP: Pilot Development and Testing of an Anthropomorphic Multimedia Theater for Fundamental Engineering Problem Solving for Pre-College Female Students

该项目将为大学预科女生开发和测试光盘和互联网上的教学软件，以促进对工程作为人类努力的内在美和兴奋的理解和欣赏。 将开发六个试点模块，每个模块涵盖工程经济，流体力学系统，刚体力学，电路分析，材料力学和热力学中的一个典型问题。 拟人化的机器部件和工程公式将在世界上一些最伟大的科学家的指导下相互作用。 没有先进的数学和科学的先决条件，学生将学习递归的性质和系统识别，模式分析和合成，同时条件，工程近似的方法一致性，以及这些一般方法的“团队合作”，以追求基本工程问题解决的高学习效率。 从北方伊利诺斯州、威斯康星州南部、爱荷华州东部和北方印第安纳州招募的学前教育教师和辅导员将接受培训，使用试点模块，并在两个教师和辅导员讲习班上开发类似的模块。 60名女性和60名男性学前班学生将参加实地测试，重点是通过罗克福德公立学区招募的多媒体系列的教学效果。 前测试和后测试将评估学生对基础工程问题解决的学习以及他们对数学，科学和工程的一般态度。 在向全国分发之前，将由一名外部评价员进行全面、独立的评价。

This project will develop and test pilot instructional software on CD-ROM and the Internet for female precollege students to foster the comprehension and appreciation of the intrinsic beauty and excitement of engineering as a human endeavor. Six pilot modules will be developed, each covering a typical problem in engineering economy, fluid mechanics' system, rigid-body mechanics, circuit analysis, mechanics of materials, and thermodynamics. Anthropomorphized machine parts and engineering formulas will interact with each other, guided by some of the world's greatest scientists. Without advanced math and science prerequisites, students will learn about the recursive nature and the methodological uniformities in system identification, pattern analysis and synthesis, simultaneous conditions, engineering approximation, and the "teamwork" of these general methods in pursuing a high learning efficiency in fundamental engineering problem-solving. Precollege teachers and counselors, recruited from northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, eastern Iowa, and northern Indiana, will be trained to use the pilot modules and to develop similar modules in two teacher and counselor workshops. Sixty female and sixty male precollege students will participate in a field test that will focus on the pedagogical effects of the multimedia series, recruited through the Rockford Public School District. Pre- and post-tests will evaluate students' learning about fundamental engineering problem-solving and their general attitudes toward math, science, and engineering. A comprehensive, independent evaluation will be conducted prior to national dissemination by an external evaluator.