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

该项目将通过创建和提供一套新的非结构化问题模块来提高学生解决材料静力学和力学问题的能力。这些问题将是开放式的，要求学生制定隐含给出的假设，和/或预测超出给定课程材料边界的想法。学生将从事设计或类似设计的练习，并使用现代仿真工具，因为他们有效地和成熟地解决这些问题。所进行的研究将决定结构不良的问题解决的教学效果，包括陈述性、程序性和概念性知识的发展。这将通过创建一个学生实验队列来实现，这些学生将接受新模块的指导，并评估队列在各种学术工具和问卷调查中的表现（与对照组相比）。将开发新的模块来教授静力学和材料力学的基本主题。模块的主题将通过改进的德尔菲过程来开发，其中力学教育专家将推荐最重要的主题。这些工具将被评估，以及使用这些工具的学生的学习成果。特别值得一提的是，该项目的研究设计利用了跟踪学生在“课程链”上连续四门课程的表现，以便可以纵向衡量技能的保留和转移。该项目将在波多黎各大学（University of Puerto Rico, mayagez）进行，那里99%以上的学生是西班牙裔，西班牙语是他们的母语，工程学院32%的本科生是女性（这一比例大大超过了全国平均水平）。此外，为德尔菲程序征聘专家将确保有相当数量的与会者来自为西班牙语提供服务的机构，本项目编制的新单元将以英文和西班牙文提供。因此，该项目将通过该项目的直接参与者以及通过接触所开发产品的潜在未来用户来吸引代表性不足的少数民族（西班牙裔）和妇女。

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.