The utility of mechanical objects: Aiding students' learning of abstract and difficult engineering concepts

IF 3.9 2区 工程技术 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
Tanya Mitropoulos, Diana Bairaktarova, Scott Huxtable
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Abstract

Background

Undergraduate students consistently struggle with mastering concepts related to thermodynamics. Prior work has shown that haptic technology and intensive hands-on workshops help improve learning outcomes relative to traditional lecture-based thermodynamics instruction. The current study takes a more feasible approach to improving thermal understanding by incorporating simple mechanical objects into individual problem-solving exercises.

Purpose/Hypotheses

This study tests the impact of simple mechanical objects on learning outcomes (specifically, problem-solving performance and conceptual understanding) for third-year undergraduate engineering students in a thermodynamics course across a semester.

Design/Method

During the semester, 119 engineering students in two sections of an undergraduate thermodynamics course completed three 15-min, self-guided problem-solving tasks, one section without and the other with a simple and relevant physical object. Performance on the tasks and improvements in thermodynamics comprehension (measured via Thermal and Transport Concept Inventory scores) were compared between the two sections.

Results

Students who had a simple, relevant object available to solve three thermodynamics problems consistently outperformed their counterparts without objects, although only to statistical significance when examining the simple effects for the third problem. At the end of the semester, students who had completed the tasks with the objects displayed significantly greater improvements in thermodynamics comprehension than their peers without the relevant object. Higher mechanical aptitude facilitated the beneficial effect of object availability on comprehension improvements.

Conclusion

Findings suggest that the incorporation of simple mechanical objects into active learning exercises in thermodynamics curricula could facilitate student learning in thermodynamics and potentially other abstract domains.

Abstract Image

机械物体的实用性:帮助学生学习抽象而困难的工程概念
本科生在掌握热力学相关概念方面一直很吃力。先前的研究表明,相对于传统的以讲授为主的热力学教学,触觉技术和强化实践研讨会有助于提高学习效果。本研究测试了简单机械物体对热力学课程三年级本科生一学期学习成果(特别是解决问题的表现和概念理解)的影响。在这一学期中,本科热力学课程两个部分的 119 名工科学生完成了三个 15 分钟的自我指导解决问题的任务,其中一个部分没有使用简单的相关实物,另一个部分使用了简单的相关实物。两部分学生的任务完成情况和热力学理解能力的提高情况(通过热量和传输概念量表得分来衡量)进行了比较。在解决三个热力学问题时,有简单相关实物的学生的成绩始终优于没有实物的学生,但在研究第三个问题的简单效应时,两者的成绩只有统计学意义。学期结束时,使用相关物体完成任务的学生在热力学理解方面的进步明显高于没有使用相关物体的学生。研究结果表明,在热力学课程的主动学习练习中加入简单的机械物体可以促进学生对热力学以及其他抽象领域的学习。
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来源期刊
Journal of Engineering Education
Journal of Engineering Education 工程技术-工程:综合
CiteScore
12.20
自引率
11.80%
发文量
47
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: The Journal of Engineering Education (JEE) serves to cultivate, disseminate, and archive scholarly research in engineering education.
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