I-Corps L: Interactive Educational Tools for STEM Students to Increase the Understanding of Energy Conversion Devices

通过美国国家科学基金会创新团队学习计划(i-Corps L)，该项目将开发方法，以增加教育软件的规模和影响，教和学习燃料电池。燃料电池是一种非常高效的能量转换装置，可以显著提高清洁能源的利用率。互动教育模块是在中佛罗里达大学早期的工作中设计、开发和测试的。这些模块进行了优化，以教育和培训包括K-12、本科生和研究生以及工程专业人员在内的广泛受众，使他们熟悉并更好地理解燃料电池的工作原理。拟议的扩大和维持教育创新努力的目标是接受和利用i-Corps学习方案提供的支持，以加速将开发的互动教育软件转变为新兴的学习工具；并增加这项工作在不同教育机构和行业实体中的影响。拟议的努力和软件配置路径的开发将建立在以前开发的教育模块的基础上。这些模块在各种环境中进行了测试，包括工程入门课程、本科工程热力学和高级燃料电池系统课程。在i-Corps计划中，将在高中、特许学校、社区学院、四年制本科院校以及全国各地的大学等教育实体中寻找更多的最终用户和潜在的采用者。在拟议的i-Corps项目的帮助下，教育软件将得到额外的审查，并将制定一条可能导致更广泛采用的道路。鉴于燃料电池已经在全球能源系统中扮演着重要的角色，该项目有可能帮助美国学生充分了解这项技术带来的机遇。

Through the NSF Innovation Corps for Learning Program (I-Corps L), this project will develop ways to increase the scale and impact of educational software for teaching and learning about fuel cells. Fuel cells are very efficient energy conversion devices which could significantly improve the use of clean energy sources. Interactive educational modules were designed, developed, and tested in earlier work at the University of Central Florida. These modules are optimized to educate and train a broad audience which includes K-12, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as engineering professionals to become familiar and better understand the principles of operation of fuel cells. The goal of the proposed scaling and sustaining of educational innovation efforts is to receive and use the support provided by I-Corps Learning program to accelerate the transition of the developed interactive educational software into emerging learning tools; and to increase the impact of this work among different educational institutions and industrial entities.The proposed efforts and development of the software disposition pathways will be built on previously developed educational modules. These modules were tested in a variety of settings including introductory engineering courses, undergraduate engineering thermodynamics and a advance fuel cell systems course. In the I-Corps program, additional end users and potential adopters will be sought among both education entities, such as high schools, charter schools, community colleges, four year undergraduate institutions, as well as universities across the country. With the help of the proposed I-Corps project the educational software will receive additional review and a path that could potentially lead to more widespread adoption will be formulated. Given the important role fuel cells are already playing in global energy systems, the project has the potential to help US students to be well-informed about the opportunities presented by this technology.