Collaborative Research: Fostering Engineering Creativity and Communication through Immediate, Personalized Feedback on 2D-Perspective Drawing

该项目旨在通过提高学生绘制结构和系统表示的能力，为优秀的本科工程教育服务于国家利益。徒手绘图是工程学中的一项关键技能，特别是因为它能够将复杂的系统简化为简单、准确的图表。这样的图表有助于想法的产生、系统的可视化以及客户和工程师之间的讨论。如果加上适当的及时反馈，绘画也可以成为一种有效的学习工具，提高学生的视觉交流技能和创造力。这个项目将使用一种名为SketchTirate的计算机应用程序来教工科学生如何绘画，并检查绘画教学对学生学习的影响。SketchTirate是一个智能辅导系统，它可以为学生在屏幕上而不是纸面上绘制的2D图纸提供实时反馈。该应用程序由研究团队开发，为每个学生提供关于图纸的迭代、实时、个性化的反馈，促进改进和促进学习。当教育工作者从手绘过渡到计算机辅助设计时，手绘及其相关的好处被无意中从工程课程中删除了。这种转变导致学生和教职员工在写意方面缺乏熟练程度。该项目将支持将二维透视图恢复到工程学课程中。由于绘图是一项与其他STEM领域相关的技能，这项工作很可能在本科STEM教育中具有广泛的相关性。该项目将使SketchTirate软件能够分发给四个合作机构的约5,000名不同的本科生和研究生。这些学生包括很大比例的妇女和来自其他群体的学生，这些群体在科学、技术和经济领域没有公平的代表性。该项目有可能产生关于基于绘图的人工智能(AI)工具的重要新知识。它还可以增加对反馈和反思提示对绘画技能以及对学习和创造力的影响的理解。该项目将把基于人工智能的评估与人类进行的评估进行比较，从而提供有关智能教学系统开发的更多信息。将调查绘图能力对学生创造力和空间推理能力的影响，以及绘图技能在工程其他课程中的可移植性。提出了一种包括调查、工程设计创造力验证评估和绘图测验在内的混合方法来评估项目成果。NSF IUSE：EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生的STEM教育的有效性。通过参与的学生学习路径，该计划支持有前景的实践和工具的创建、探索和实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project aims to serve the national interest in excellent undergraduate engineering education by improving students’ ability to draw representations of structures and systems. Free-hand drawing is a crucial skill across engineering, especially for its ability to reduce complex systems to simplified, accurate diagrams. Such diagrams aid in idea generation, visualization of systems, and discussions between clients and engineers. When coupled with appropriate timely feedback, drawing can also be an effective learning tool for improving students’ visual communication skills and creativity. This project will use a computer application called SketchTivity to teach engineering students how to draw, and examine the impact of drawing instruction on student learning. SketchTivity is an intelligent tutoring system that provides real-time feedback on 2D drawings that students make on a screen instead of on paper. The application, which was developed by the research team, provides each student with iterative, real-time, personalized feedback on the drawing, promoting improvements and facilitating learning. Free-hand drawing and its associated benefits were inadvertently removed from the engineering curricula when educators transitioned from hand drafting to Computer-Aided-Design. This transition has resulted in the lack of student and faculty proficiency in freehand drawing. This project will support restoration of 2D-perspective drawing to engineering curricula. Since drawing is a skill that is also relevant to other STEM fields, this work is likely to have broad relevance in undergraduate STEM education.The project will enable the distribution of SketchTivity software to approximately 5,000 diverse undergraduate and graduate students at four partnering institutions. These students include a large percentage of women and students from other groups that are not equitably represented in STEM fields. The project has the potential to produce significant new knowledge about drawing-based artificial intelligence (AI) tools. It can also increase understanding about the effects of feedback and reflective prompts on drawing skills, and on learning and creativity. The project will compare AI-based assessments to assessments conducted by humans, thus providing additional information about development of intelligent tutoring systems. The impact of drawing ability on students’ creativity and spatial reasoning skills will be investigated, along with the transferability of drawing skills to other courses in engineering. A mixed-methods approach that includes surveys, validated assessments for engineering design creativity, and drawing quizzes, is proposed to assess project outcomes. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and 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.