Enhancing Students’ Spatial Skills with Augmented Reality Experiences

该项目旨在通过提高工程图形学（许多工程专业的基础课程）的学生参与度和学习成果，为国家利益服务。理解工程设计规范是工程团队决策的关键技能。学生需要学习如何分析和解释这些规范，这通常涉及将2D绘图可视化为3D模型，反之亦然。能够在这两种表示之间进行转换，使工程师能够更有效地与其他涉众交流想法和设计。空间技能作为一种认知技能，在有效的学习资源的支持下，通过有意识的教学可以提高学生的空间技能。这个项目将开发和评估一个增强现实应用程序，该应用程序将显示视觉辅助工具来指导学生分析线和面。学生将通过一步一步的动画指导，展示如何2D图纸涉及到一个3D模型。本研究将评估应用程序对传统上代表性不足的工程专业学生的学生参与度和学生空间技能的影响。项目结果将通过项目网站和教师研讨会向STEM教育界提供。该项目的目标是通过使用增强现实应用程序让学生参与主动学习来提高学生的空间技能。该应用程序将提供视觉辅助，如高亮和阴影，以帮助学生理解线与面之间的关系。学生将能够用手指旋转3D模型，或者在交互式沉浸式环境中跟随连接点的动画来创建线和面。奖励机制，如积分、等级、徽章和额外的挑战问题将被用来激励学生解决问题。嵌入式选择题将用于评估学生的理解。每个问题都将添加注释和上下文信息，以激励学生并对他们的答案提供反馈。该项目将在学科内部和学科之间的设计中使用经过验证的工具来评估主动学习经验对学生在工程图形课程中的空间技能和态度的影响。除了通过同行评议的期刊和会议发言分享研究结果外，还将开发和维护一个项目网站，提供评估结果和与项目有关的材料。在课程中实施增强现实应用的经验教训和指导方针将通过研讨会和外展活动与感兴趣的教师分享。NSF IUSE: EDU项目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 improving student engagement and student learning outcomes for engineering students in engineering graphics, a foundational course in many engineering programs. Understanding engineering design specifications is a critical skill for making decisions in the engineering workforce. Students need to learn how to analyze and interpret these specifications, which often involves visualizing a 2D drawing as a 3D model and vice versa. Being able to convert between these two representations enables engineers to communicate ideas and designs more effectively with other stakeholders. Students’ spatial skills as cognitive skills can be improved with intentional instruction supported by effective learning resources. This project will develop and assess an augmented reality application that will display visual aids to guide students in analyzing lines and surfaces. Students will be guided through a step-by-step animation to show how 2D drawings relate to a 3D model. This study will assess the impact of the application on student engagement and students’ spatial skills for students from traditionally underrepresented groups in engineering. Project results will be made available to the STEM education community through a project website and workshops for faculty.The goal of this project is to improve students’ spatial skills by engaging students in active learning using an augmented reality application. The application will provide visual aids such as highlighting and shading to assist students in comprehending the relationship between lines and surfaces. Students will be able to rotate a 3D model with their fingers or follow an animation that connects points to create lines and surfaces in an interactive immersive environment. Incentive mechanisms such as points, levels, badges, and additional challenge problems will be used to motivate students to solve problems. Embedded multiple choice questions will be used to assess students’ understanding. Annotations and contextual information will be added to each question to motivate students and provide feedback on their answers. The project will use validated instruments in a within- and between-subjects design to assess the impact of the active learning experiences on students’ spatial skills and attitudes in an engineering graphics course. Beyond sharing the findings through peer-reviewed journals, and conference presentations, a project website will be developed and maintained which will provide access to assessment results and project-related materials. Lessons learned and guidelines for implementing the augmented reality application in courses will be shared with interested faculty members via workshops and outreach activities. The NSF IUSE: EDU 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.