Collaborative Research: Improving Undergraduate Education in Civil & Building Engineering through Student-centric Cyber-Physical Systems and Real-world Problems

该项目旨在为高质量的工科本科教育服务于国家利益。它将通过将基于智能手机的数字可视化技术整合到土木工程和建筑工程课程中来做到这一点。该项目预测，这一增加将提高学生在工程学课堂上的参与度。教育研究表明，主动学习提高了学生的学习动机和学习能力。然而，主动学习经验很难融入到土木工程和建筑工程中，因为这些领域解决的问题是大规模的或当地没有的。此外，学生通常认为土木工程和建筑工程是“低技术”的，这使得对潜在专业的兴趣变得更具挑战性。该项目提出了一种新的方法来增加土木工程和建筑工程学位课程的招生、留住和成功：使用低成本的技术来增强学生的学习体验。具体地说，通过土木和建筑工程系统的交互式数字可视化，土木和建筑工程中的真实世界问题将被带入本科生课堂。学生们将能够通过负担得起的传感技术来控制系统，如智能手机、摄像头和物联网传感器。由此产生的教育工具被该项目称为以学生为中心的网络物理系统，当学生与这些系统实时互动时，预计将促进主动学习。这些工具还将向学生介绍智能基础设施的创新传感器，这可能会激发更多的兴趣，并增加学生的招生和留存。通过基于设计的实施研究，这个探索性项目将开发以学生为中心的用于建筑科学和结构分析的网络物理系统，并解决以下问题：1)学生的兴趣、动机和参与度如何变化？2)以学生为中心的网络物理系统如何影响学生感知和预测问题解决方案的能力？3)接触以学生为中心的网络物理系统的传感技术和数据科学方面如何影响学生对土木工程和建筑工程的感知。尤其是该领域的低/高科技性质？开发的以学生为中心的网络物理系统工具将在两所大型公立研究型大学进行测试和评估。该项目计划产生理论来指导下一代以学生为中心的网络物理系统工具在多个STEM领域的过渡。在土木工程和建筑工程方面吸取的经验教训可以与其他领域分享，有可能在全国产生广泛影响。以学生为中心的网络物理系统工具也将用于K-12公立学校的推广工作。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 high quality undergraduate engineering education. It will do so by integrating smartphone-based digital visualization technology into Civil and Building Engineering curricula. The project predicts that this addition will improve student engagement in the engineering classroom. Education research shows that active learning increases student motivation and learning . However, active learning experiences are challenging to incorporate into civil and building engineering, because these fields address problems that are large-scale or not available locally. Additionally, students often view civil and building engineering negatively as “low-tech,” making it more challenging to interest potential majors. This project proposes a novel approach to increase enrollment, retention, and success in civil and building engineering degree programs: the use of low-cost technologies to enhance the student-learning experience. Specifically, real-world problems in civil and building engineering will be brought into undergraduate classrooms through interactive digital visualizations of civil and building engineering systems. Students will be able to control the systems through affordable sensing technologies, such as smartphones, cameras, and Internet of Things sensors. The resulting educational tools, which the project calls student-centric cyber-physical systems, are expected to promote active learning as students interact with these systems in real-time. These tools will also introduce students to innovative sensors for smart infrastructure, which may stimulate additional interest and increase student recruitment and retention.Through design-based implementation research, this exploratory project will develop student-centric cyber-physical systems for building science and structural analysis, and address the following questions: 1) How do students’ interest, motivation, and engagement vary? 2) How does student-centric cyber-physical systems affect student ability to sense and predict solutions to problems? 3) How does exposure to sensing technology and data science aspects of student-centric cyber-physical systems affect students’ perceptions of civil and building engineering, particularly the low/high tech nature of the field? The developed student-centric cyber-physical systems tools will be tested and assessed at two large public research universities. The project plans to generate theory to guide the transition for next-generation student-centric cyber-physical systems tools across multiple STEM fields. Lessons learned in the context of civil and building engineering can be shared with other fields, potentially leading to a broad national impact. The student-centric cyber-physical systems tools will also be used in outreach efforts at K-12 public schools. 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.