PERKS: Power Electronics Refined learning via affordable Kit and Software tutor

PERKS：电力电子通过经济实惠的套件和软件导师进行精细学习

• 批准号: 1505058
• 负责人: Ali Mehrizi-Sani
• 金额: $ 25万
• 依托单位: Washington State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-08-15 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1505058&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: PERKS; Power; Electronics; Refined; learning

Power electronics is an enabling technology for the smart power grid. However, students often struggle in power electronics courses because it requires mastery and simultaneous application of concepts from several earlier courses. To address this educational challenge, the objectives of this project at Washington State University (WSU) include designing (i) a software tutor to help students translate visual information (circuit diagrams) to written information (equations) and analyze a power electronic converter circuit and (ii) an all-in-one low cost prototype circuit kit for hands-on experimentation with power electronic converters that run off the USB port of a laptop without needing extra equipment. These boards promote an anywhere, anytime, living-with-the-laboratory paradigm. This work makes electrical engineering students more employable by making them competent in an area where many graduates struggle. The designs and prototype products developed with this project have the potential to reach students in universities worldwide through collaboration with an extensive commercial distribution network. Four universities (WSU, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Idaho, and University of Manitoba) will implement and utilize the developed curricular material in their power electronic courses, with a total expected enrollment of 150 students per year. The outcomes of this project are not only of interest to the power electronics education community, but they also pave the road for developing similar tools for other multidisciplinary courses. The accessible web-based nature of the developed material can affect a broad population.The products of this project support a visual learning style, the preferred learning style of many engineering students, thereby increasing their understanding and ultimately, their retention. The software tool developed in this project uses an interactive well-established pedagogical approach (scaffolding) to improve student learning and problem solving skills. Scaffolding provides students with a template and dynamic feedback to assist them in their early stages of learning. As a result, student self-confidence will improve, which is expected to improve students' choice of careers in power engineering. This project will be transformative because it develops a novel approach that mixes scaffolding, visual learning, and formative feedback to transform power electronics education into a significantly more engaging experience. An external evaluator will gauge the effectiveness of the developed material in overcoming conceptual difficulties and improving students' attitudes toward power electronics. A mixed-methods approach that emphasizes qualitative understandings supplemented by quantitative data will be used, including a within-subjects experimental design. In addition to the collection of background information (e.g., gender) and baseline measures (e.g., prior knowledge and motivation and attitude toward power electronics), the students will be given two sets of problems with similar difficulty levels and asked to solve them with and without the scaffold provided by the software tutor. Students' approaches to problem solving will be recorded and analyzed quantitatively, e.g. completion time, correctness of subcircuits, correctness of equations, and correctness of the final solution. Pre- and post-assessment tests of the students' technical knowledge will be administered and student responses on homework assignments, mid-term tests, and final exams will also be analyzed.

电力电子技术是智能电网的使能技术。然而，学生在电力电子课程中经常遇到困难，因为它需要掌握并同时应用几门早期课程的概念。为了应对这一教育挑战，华盛顿州立大学 (WSU) 该项目的目标包括设计 (i) 一个软件导师，帮助学生将视觉信息（电路图）转换为书面信息（方程）并分析电力电子转换器电路，以及 (ii) 一个一体化低成本原型电路套件，用于对电力电子转换器进行动手实验，该电力电子转换器通过笔记本电脑的 USB 端口运行，无需额外设备。这些委员会提倡随时随地、与实验室共存的范例。 这项工作使电气工程专业的学生能够在许多毕业生苦苦挣扎的领域胜任，从而提高他们的就业能力。通过与广泛的商业分销网络合作，该项目开发的设计和原型产品有可能接触到世界各地大学的学生。四所大学（WSU、佐治亚理工学院、爱达荷大学和曼尼托巴大学）将在其电力电子课程中实施和利用开发的课程材料，预计每年招生总数为 150 名学生。该项目的成果不仅引起了电力电子教育界的兴趣，而且还为开发其他多学科课程的类似工具铺平了道路。所开发材料的可访问性基于网络的性质可以影响广泛的人群。该项目的产品支持视觉学习方式，这是许多工程专业学生首选的学习方式，从而增加他们的理解并最终提高他们的记忆力。该项目开发的软件工具使用成熟的交互式教学方法（支架）来提高学生的学习和解决问题的技能。脚手架为学生提供模板和动态反馈，以帮助他们早期的学习阶段。因此，学生的自信心将会提高，从而有望改善学生对电力工程职业的选择。该项目将具有变革性，因为它开发了一种新颖的方法，混合了脚手架、视觉学习和形成性反馈，将电力电子教育转变为更具吸引力的体验。外部评估员将评估所开发材料在克服概念困难和提高学生对电力电子技术的态度方面的有效性。将使用强调定性理解并辅以定量数据的混合方法，包括受试者内实验设计。除了收集背景信息（例如，性别）和基线测量（例如，先验知识以及对电力电子的动机和态度）之外，还将向学生提供两组难度相似的问题，并要求他们在有或没有软件导师提供的支架的情况下解决这些问题。学生解决问题的方法将被记录并进行定量分析，例如完成时间、子电路的正确性、方程的正确性以及最终解的正确性。我们将对学生的技术知识进行事前和事后评估测试，并分析学生对家庭作业、期中测试和期末考试的反应。