Research: Examining the impact of mechanical objects in students learning of thermodynamics-related engineering problems

随着现代社会技术的快速发展，未来的工程师必须充分学习工程的基本概念，以便他们能够在整个职业生涯中将这些概念应用于一系列新的应用。大学里的许多工程课程都涉及教授抽象的概念，这些概念通常很难让学生理解。例如，“热力学”是一门重要的课程，涉及学习热，能量和机械功之间的关系。众所周知，热力学对许多学生来说是一门困难的课程，因为课堂上的一些概念，如热和能量，是抽象的。教授困难的工程学科的一种方法是使用学生可以触摸和操纵的物理或机械物体来演示重要的概念。该项目探讨了在热力学课程中使用和评估机械对象作为教学工具的新方法，其想法是这项工作的结果可以应用于其他工程课程。这个项目研究人与物的互动，这是工程学的一个重要和关键的方面，研究这些互动如何影响对具有挑战性的概念的理解。在该项目中要解决的主要问题是工程教育和实践的基础：什么是学习工程相关概念的机械对象的价值？本研究采用准实验的混合方法设计，其中不同的机械对象被用于在热力学类的几个问题解决活动。物理演示涉及传统问题的关键热力学概念，如热功转换，理想气体行为或液-汽相变过程，可以通过使用机械物体来增强。例如，汽车发动机中典型的“活塞-汽缸”布置可以用简单的机械对象来建模，该简单的机械对象由注射器中的柱塞组成，该注射器具有集成的温度传感器，以物理地示出压缩、膨胀、功、热、温度和压力之间的关系。研究结果将进行分析，以提供一个清晰的画面，如何使用机械对象支持工程活动，以及个体差异如何影响学习过程。在项目结束时，研究人员将开发对象使用的类型学和描述解决工程相关问题所涉及的认知过程的心理模型。最后，这项工作的结果将为如何将机械物体用作教育工具提供指导。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

As technology quickly advances in modern society, it is important that the engineers of tomorrow fully learn the basic concepts of engineering so that they can apply these concepts throughout their careers to a range of new applications. Many engineering courses in college involve teaching abstract concepts that are often difficult for students to understand. For example, "Thermodynamics" is an important course that involves learning about relationships between heat, energy, and mechanical work. Thermodynamics is known to be a difficult course for many students since some of the concepts in the class, such as heat and energy, are abstract. One method for teaching difficult engineering subjects is to use physical or mechanical objects that a student can touch and manipulate in order to demonstrate important concepts. This project examines new approaches for the use and evaluation of mechanical objects as teaching tools in a thermodynamics course with the idea that results from this work can then be applied to additional engineering courses. This project examines person-object interactions, a significant and critical aspect of engineering, to examine how these interactions affect comprehension of challenging concepts. The primary question to be addressed in the project is fundamental to engineering education and practice: What is the value of mechanical objects in learning engineering related concepts? This study uses quasi-experiments in a mixed methods design where different mechanical objects are used in several problem-solving activities in Thermodynamics classes. Physically demonstrating key thermodynamics concepts, involved in traditional problems, such as the conversion of heat to work, ideal gas behavior, or liquid-vapor phase change processes can be augmented with the use of mechanical objects. For example, a typical "piston-cylinder" arrangement in an automobile engine can be modeled with a simple mechanical object that consists of a plunger in a syringe with an integrated temperature sensor to physically illustrate relationships between compression, expansion, work, heat, temperature, and pressure. The study results will be analyzed in order to provide a clear picture of how the use of mechanical objects supports engineering activities and how individual differences affect the learning process. At the end of the project, the researchers will develop typologies of object use and mental models describing the cognitive processes involved in solving engineering related problems. Finally, the results from this work will provide guidance as to how mechanical objects can be used as educational tools.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.