Development and Assessment of Teaching Tools to Facilitate the Implementation of Construction Industry Simulation (COINS) in Lower Division Courses

土木工程和建筑工程课程在将理论知识应用于实践以及将这些知识推广到学生的学习领域之外方面存在着知识和技能差距。为了在土木工程和建筑工程课程中解决这一问题，加州理工州立大学圣路易斯奥比斯波分校(CPSLO)的研究人员开发了一种虚拟建筑行业模拟(COINS)，以补充传统的课堂教学方法。Coins提供了一个虚拟环境，让学生沉浸在主动学习中，提出问题和情景，要求他们参与实际的工程问题解决。通过实施硬币，工程学院将能够提高他们的教学能力，并获得信心，采用新的有效的教学方法。这样，他们将更好地适应更广泛的学生的学习方式和需求。通过硬币，学生将学习如何在多学科团队中沟通和克服障碍，他们将获得过渡到行业工作和参与高级研究项目所需的宝贵技能。该项目有两个主要目标：(1)开发教师单元，以便在两年制和四年制高等教育机构的低级工科课程中有效地实施硬币；(2)研究硬币对学生学习的影响。研究人员试图通过测量硬币模拟对学生学习的影响，确定有效的实施策略，并开发促进教师使用硬币的材料，来促进基于项目的学习、多学科项目、本科生研究和团队合作领域的知识和理解。这将增加使用COINS方法的机会，使更多的学生将参与使用COINS模拟的基于项目的学习体验，从而使这些学生能够通过综合体验体验真正的并行工程。该项目将通过学生作业、访谈、焦点小组、反思练习和观察进行评估。预期成果是多方面的；主要贡献将是：土木工程/建筑工程入门课程内容，将改善社区学院和四年制院校之间的衔接；一个在线实践社区，促进想法、解决方案和实践的分享，并就教学材料和方法提供反馈；以及改善学生的学习和解决工程问题、团队合作和沟通的能力。

A knowledge and skills gap exists in the civil and construction engineering curricula in applying theoretical knowledge to practice and in extending this knowledge outside students' fields of study. In an attempt to address this issue in civil and construction engineering curricula, investigators at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (CPSLO) have developed a virtual Construction Industry Simulation (COINS) to supplement traditional classroom instructional delivery methods. COINS provides a virtual environment to immerse students in active learning by posing problems and situations that require them to engage in practical engineering problem solving. Through the implementation of COINS, engineering faculty will be able to enhance their instructional repertoire and gain confidence in employing new, effective instructional approaches. In so doing, they will be better equipped to meet the learning styles and needs of a broader range of students. Through COINS, students will learn how to communicate and overcome obstacles in a multidisciplinary team and they will gain valuable skills that are needed to transition to jobs in industry and to participate in advanced research projects. The project has two primary objectives: (1) to develop an instructor's module for effective COINS implementation in lower division engineering courses at two- and four-year institutions of higher education and (2) to study the impact of COINS on student learning. The investigators seek to advance knowledge and understanding in the areas of project-based learning, multidisciplinary projects, undergraduate research, and teamwork by measuring the impact of COINS simulation on student learning, identifying effective implementation strategies, and developing materials to facilitate the use of COINS by faculty. This will increase access to the COINS approach so that more students will participate in project-based learning experiences using the COINS simulation thus enabling these students to experience true concurrent engineering through an integrated experience. The project will be assessed using student work, interviews, focus groups, reflection exercises and observations. The expected outcomes are numerous; major contributions will be: introductory civil/construction engineering course content that will improve articulation between community colleges and four-year institutions; an online community of practice to facilitate sharing of ideas, solutions, and practices as well as providing feedback on instructional materials and methods; and improved student learning and capabilities in engineering problem solving, teamwork, and communication.