Collaborative Research: Gamified Learning of Computing Hardware Fundamentals

该项目旨在通过设计一个新颖的动手和游戏化课程，专注于计算硬件基础知识，为国家利益服务。电子产品在生活中几乎所有领域的使用越来越多，这就产生了对工程师、科学家和技术人员为其复杂的设计和制造过程做出贡献的巨大需求。然而，围绕制造业工作的硬件误解，以及分析和人工智能工作的日益流行，促使学生避免与硬件相关的大学课程。学生的电子硬件知识和基本操作原理没有受到重视。这导致了当前电子行业的显著技能差距。因此，迫切需要训练大学生通过动手的方法从系统的角度学习硬件的基础知识。此外，还需要激发这些学生对硬件的兴趣。该项目旨在设计吸引人的、协作的、发人深省的游戏化学习模块，这些模块将在电子硬件平台上播放。每个游戏化模块，单独或协作在一个团队中发挥，将目标训练学生在一个主要的硬件概念，使用一个引人入胜的和实验性的学习方法。游戏将介绍和练习计算硬件的一个基本概念。总的来说，游戏化模块将提供现代电子系统的系统级视角。该项目打算评估两所大学和高中的课程。堪萨斯大学和佛罗里达大学之间的这个合作项目将研究一个新的范例，为本科生准备电子硬件的基本概念和系统操作的关键原理，包括基础物理（例如，信号传播，晶体管的开关）和数学（例如，布尔代数，逻辑门）的计算。该项目旨在了解游戏化学习在不同学生群体中激发情境兴趣和学习硬件内容的能力，这些学生群体包括女性、社会经济地位低的学生、第一次上大学的学生和历史上未被充分代表的少数民族。该项目有潜力为半导体行业创造一支熟练和多元化的劳动力队伍。将采用混合研究方法来评估本项目中拟议的活动。项目活动还将包括为高中生开发类似的游戏化模块，从而为更多电气和计算机工程本科专业的学生创造招聘途径。该项目将通过门户网站、研讨会、教程和特别会议与教育和半导体社区分享游戏化模块、硬件平台设计、课程材料和其他成果。该项目有可能帮助学生采用具有更复杂功能的新兴技术，如增强现实和虚拟现实。NSF IUSE: EHR计划支持研究和开发项目，以提高所有学生STEM教育的有效性。通过参与学生学习轨道，该计划支持有前途的实践和工具的创建，探索和实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

This project aims to serve the national interest by designing a novel hands-on and gamified curriculum focusing on computing hardware fundamentals. Growing use of electronics in nearly all spheres of life has created a great need for engineers, scientists, and technicians to contribute to their sophisticated design and manufacturing process. However, misconceptions of hardware surrounding manufacturing jobs, along with the rising popularity of jobs in analytics and artificial intelligence, motivate students to avoid hardware-related college courses. Students’ knowledge of electronic hardware and basic principles of their operation have not received much attention. This has contributed to a remarkable skill gap in the current electronics industry. Hence, there is a critical need for training college students to learn the fundamentals of hardware from a system perspective through a hands-on approach. Additionally, there is a need to stimulate these students interests in hardware. The project aims to design engaging, collaborative, and thought-provoking gamified learning modules that will be played on an electronic hardware platform. Each gamified module, to be played individually or collaboratively in a team, will target training students on one major concept of hardware using an engaging and experimental learning approach. Games will introduce and exercise one of the fundamental concepts of computing hardware. Collectively, the gamified modules will provide a system-level perspective of the modern electronic system. The project intends to evaluate the curriculum at two universities and high schools. This collaborative project between University of Kansas and University of Florida will investigate a new paradigm of preparing undergraduate students with foundational concepts of electronic hardware and key principles of system operation, including underlying physics (e.g., signal propagation, switching of transistors) and mathematics (e.g., Boolean algebra, logic gates) of computing. The project seeks to understand the ability of gamified learning to stimulate situational interest and learning of hardware content among diverse groups of students, including women, low socio-economic status students, first-time-in-college students, and historically underrepresented ethnic minorities. This project has the potential to create a skilled and diversified workforce in the semiconductor industry. A mixed research method will be used to evaluate the proposed activities in this project. Project activities will also include development of similar gamified modules for high school students, which in turn leads to creating a recruiting pathway for more electrical and computer engineering undergraduate majors. The project will share the gamified modules, hardware platform design, course materials, and other outcomes with the educational and semiconductor community through web portals, workshops, tutorials, and special sessions. The project has potential to help students adopt emerging technologies with more complex functionality, such as augmented and virtual reality. 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.