WEAVE : Web-based Educational Framework for Analysis, Visualization and Experimentation

Duke University, Durham NC

Investigators

Abstract

Engineering - Civil (54) Our team at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University has previously developed and documented a prototype web-based instructional system for solid mechanics. Our basic goal has been to promote an inquiry-based style of modern engineering analysis, experimentation, and design into undergraduate solid and fluid mechanics courses. A central effort of our team's work has been the design and evaluation of a modular and portable framework so that faculty can create a diverse set of experiments based on our web- based model. To help guide faculty toward adoption of our model a workbook and accompanying CD-ROM is being published. Through our project Web-based Educational Framework for Analysis, Visualization, and Experimentation (WEAVE) faculty will have the option of complimenting traditional labs with module-based projects designed to encourage students to compare, contrast, and improve models of actual physical experiments. An interactive web-based tutorial for each module will be developed in conjunction with Shodor, a non-profit educational research foundation based in Durham, N.C. The deployment of WEAVE across the engineering curriculum enables students to follow interactive tutorials, execute numerical simulations, and conduct physical experiments. In these self-paced labs, students explore concepts of fluid and solid mechanics through trial and error iterations by directly controlling and modifying the physical experiments and their associated numerical simulation. The dissemination of our materials and findings has been promoted on our campus, and at the state and national levels through oral presentations, publications in educational journals, and via the Internet. We also plan to present at the Frontiers in Education in 2003.