Leveraging Simulation Tools to Deliver Ill-Structured Problems: Enhancing Student Problem-Solving Ability in Statics and Mechanics of Materials

利用仿真工具解决结构不良的问题：增强学生在材料静力学和力学方面解决问题的能力

• 批准号: 1044866
• 负责人: Christopher Papadopoulos
• 金额: $ 19.99万
• 依托单位: University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-15 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1044866&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Leveraging; Simulation; Tools; Deliver; Ill

This project will enhance student problem-solving ability in Statics and Mechanics of Materials by creating and delivering a new set of ill-structured problem modules. These problems will be open-ended, require students to formulate assumptions that are implicitly given, and/or anticipate ideas at that stretch across the boundary of the given course material. Students will engage in design or design-like exercises and use modern simulation tools as they approach such problems efficiently and maturely. Research conducted will determine the pedagogical efficacy of ill-structured problem-solving, including the development of declarative, procedural, and conceptual knowledge. This will be achieved by creating an experimental cohort of students who will receive instruction with new modules, and evaluating the cohort's performance (in comparison with a control group) on various academic instruments and responses to questionnaires. New modules will be developed to teach fundamental topics in Statics and Mechanics of Materials. Topics for the modules will be developed via a modified Delphi process in which experts in mechanics education will recommend topics of greatest importance. These tools will be assessed, along with learning gains of students who use them. In particular, the research design for this project makes use of tracking student performance along a "curricular strand" of four consecutive courses in order that retention and transfer of skills can be measured longitudinally. This project will take place at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, where more than 99% of students are Hispanic and speak Spanish as their native language, and 32% of undergraduates in the College of Engineering are female (a rate which significantly exceeds the national average). In addition, recruitment of experts for the Delphi process will ensure that a meaningful number of participants are from Hispanic-serving institutions, and the new modules developed in this project will be available in both English and Spanish. Therefore, this project will engage underrepresented minorities (Hispanics) and women both through the direct participants in this project, as well as by reaching potential future users of the products developed.

本专题将透过建立及提供一套新的结构不良的问题模组，以提升学生在静力学及材料力学方面的问题解决能力。 这些问题将是开放式的，要求学生制定隐含的假设，和/或在给定的课程材料的边界延伸预期的想法。 学生将参与设计或类似设计的练习，并使用现代模拟工具，因为他们有效地解决这些问题。 进行的研究将确定不良结构的问题解决，包括陈述性，程序性和概念性知识的发展的教学效果。这将通过创建一个实验组的学生谁将接受新的模块的教学，并评估队列的表现（与对照组相比）在各种学术工具和对问卷的答复。 将开发新的模块来教授静力学和材料力学的基本主题。这些模块的主题将通过修改后的德尔菲程序开发，其中力学教育专家将推荐最重要的主题。将对这些工具进行评估，同时沿着使用这些工具的学生的学习收获。特别是，该项目的研究设计利用跟踪学生的表现沿着“课程链”的四个连续的课程，以便保留和转移的技能可以纵向测量。该项目将在马亚圭斯的波多黎各大学进行，该校99%以上的学生是西班牙裔，母语是西班牙语，工程学院32%的本科生是女生（这一比例大大超过全国平均水平）。此外，为德尔菲进程征聘专家将确保相当数量的参与者来自为西班牙语服务的机构，该项目开发的新单元将以英文和西班牙文提供。因此，该项目将通过直接参与该项目以及接触所开发产品的潜在未来用户，吸引代表性不足的少数民族（西班牙裔）和妇女。