Haptic-Based Learning Experiences as Cognitive Mediators for Conceptual Understanding and Representational Fluency in Engineering Education

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

Haptic-Based Learning Experiences as Cognitive Mediators for Conceptual Understanding and Representational Fluency in Engineering Education Statics is a backbone course for several engineering disciplines, a direct pre-requisite for dynamics and mechanics of materials, and a pivotal player in engineering structural design. Researchers have identified Statics as a major impediment for students to succeed in follow-on core courses (therefore affecting retention in engineering) as well as on practical design capstone courses. It is known that students enter Statics with misconceptions that are not corrected through traditional instruction. This project investigates the use of feedback devices, known as haptics, in which students can manipulate a computer-generated structure and feel the forces that are generated. It is hypothesized that the use of the haptic device will provide students specific feedback to help them develop a better conceptual understanding of Statics. This project targets a foundational topic in engineering education known to significantly affect both future performance and retention. The results of this research are broadly relevant to institutions and their students, as essentially all students in mechanical, civil, aerospace, and biomedical disciplines take Statics. Similarly, the products of this research inform learning interventions in related concepts in science and engineering (e.g., buoyancy, electricity and magnetism, and dynamics, among others). This research advances understanding of haptic-mediated learning by exploring specific affordances and constraints of visuo-haptic simulations in a laboratory experiment emphasizing statics misconceptions. Visuo-haptic simulation using force-feedback devices for education is timely, yet understudied. This research significantly extends the community's understanding of the affordances and constraints of using haptic devices for teaching difficult concepts. Following a design-based research approach, this project develops new knowledge about how haptic-based learning experiences can mediate conceptual understanding and representational competence of difficult concepts in statics. It investigates how we can best use touch technologies to help students connect system behaviors in terms of governing forces and their different representational forms. This proposal focuses on the following specific research questions (RQs): 1. To what extent do haptic-based learning experiences improve student conceptual understanding and representational fluency? Working hypothesis: the force feedback of haptic devices reinforces representations (mathematical, visual) of mechanics systems and improves conceptual understanding. 2. How do the short-term, long-term, and transfer learning gains between visual-only-enhanced, physical manipulative-enhanced, and haptic-enhanced learning activities compare? Working hypothesis: students experience greater learning gains when instruction includes haptic devices. 3. What are the differences in students' explanations and representations of experienced phenomena before and after using the haptic-based learning experiences? Working hypothesis: haptic devices and learning experiences provide a new platform on which students can build understanding, and provide a new vocabulary for articulating device structure, function, and performance. The newly derived knowledge will inform our understanding about how students "learn by touch" as well as our understanding of the interplay between conceptual understanding and representational competence. Our long-term goal is to identify the extent to which interacting with haptic-based learning experiences (HABLE) mediates students' conceptual understanding and representational fluency of difficult concepts in statics.