Introduction and Assessment of i-Newton for the Engaged Learning of Engineering Dynamics

对于攻读多个工程学位的学生来说，充分理解牛顿定律是必不可少的。虽然许多工程专业的学生背诵牛顿定律没有什么困难，但很少有人掌握将这些定律应用于实际工程系统的能力。这种失败可能归因于过度接触高度理想化的教科书示例，而接触实际的工程系统显示运动不足。本项目旨在通过引入一种新的学习技术来改变这一现状，该技术被称为交互式牛顿或i-牛顿，以促进工程领域牛顿力学的参与式学习。i-Newton技术提供了一种廉价且高度便携的设备（惯性测量单元），用于测量和分析运动，本质上是一个“触手可及的动力学实验室”。从i-Newton收集的丰富运动数据允许详细的探索和从事动力学学习，而无需砖块和砂浆实验室的费用。这个项目将产生关于i-Newton如何(1)加深对牛顿力学的概念理解，(2)建立学生的自我效能感，(3)增加学生坚持工程的意愿。除了这些目标之外，研究小组的目标是在密歇根大学的工程课程中制度化i-Newton，并通过商业化途径为其他机构的大规模采用奠定基础。鉴于美国每年有37,000多名工程本科生学习牛顿力学，这个项目的潜在影响是巨大的。

A sound understanding of Newton's laws is essential for students pursuing multiple engineering degrees. While many engineering students have little difficulty reciting Newton's laws, few master the ability to apply these laws to real engineered systems. This failure likely traces to over exposure to highly idealized textbook examples and under exposure to actual engineered systems that display motion. This project aims to change that by introducing a novel learning technology, referred to as interactive-Newton or i-Newton, to promote the engaged learning of Newtonian mechanics for engineering. The i-Newton technology delivers an inexpensive and highly portable device (an inertial measurement unit) for measuring and analyzing motion, essentially a "dynamics laboratory at your fingertips." The rich motion data harvested from i-Newton allows detailed exploration and engaged leaning of dynamics and without the expense of a brick and mortar laboratory. This project will generate knowledge of how i-Newton (1) deepens the conceptual understanding of Newtonian mechanics, (2) builds student self-efficacy, and (3) increases student intention to persist in engineering. Extending beyond these goals, the research team aims to institutionalize i-Newton in the engineering curricula at the University of Michigan and to lay the foundation for the large-scale adoption at other institutions through a commercialization pathway. Given that Newtonian mechanics is taught to the more than 37,000 engineering undergraduates per year in the U.S., the potential reach of this project is massive.