Multimodal Learning Environments for Modeling Reaction Forces of Truss Structures

Hector Emilio Will Pinto, Purdue University

Abstract

In order to comprehend complex and abstract phenomena, students must partake in the process of learning by integrating complex and invisible components without ever physically encountering or manipulating such components. Prior knowledge and experiences will influence the way students assimilate and model new experiences and knowledge. If prior knowledge possesses a degree of non-normative conceptions, students' understanding of abstract phenomena may diverge dramatically from accepted scientific explanations. Embodied cognition proposes that learning about natural phenomena can develop from information gained via interactions between the body and the physical environment. Multimodal experiences can shape students' conceptual understanding of abstract phenomena.Incorporating technology tools to explore science concepts is a trend utilized to give highquality education. The use of physical and virtual manipulation tools in science instruction has favored the improvement of modeling science phenomena in general. Visuo-haptic simulations are also learning manipulatives that blend physical and virtual manipulation affordances as a unison experience.The current dissertation proposed the implementation of a learning experience where students engage in experimentation with a visuo-haptic simulation to explore and model reaction forces on truss structures. The study examined undergraduate students’ conceptual understanding, graphical representations, and the modeling refinement process of reaction forces on truss structures before, during, and after engaging with visuo-haptic simulation on truss structures using different modalities. A design-based research methodology was implemented to design, explore, and refine a learning experience with a visuo-haptic simulation of truss structures through two research phases. The learning experience occurred as a laboratory activity in a statics course at a Midwest university.The first phase of this dissertation investigated students' conceptual understanding and graphical representations of reactive forces on a complex truss structure by interacting with a visuo-haptic simulation of truss structures. Students participated in two treatment groups: visuohaptic exposure and visual-only exposure. The results of the first phase suggested that students that engaged with the visuo-haptic simulation using different modalities improved their conceptual understanding of truss structures significantly. Moreover, students exposed to haptic feedback significantly improved their graphical representations on tasks where the haptic feedback was involved.The second phase of the current dissertation examined students’ developing models of reactive forces on a truss structure before, during, and after engaging with a visuo-haptic simulation of truss structures. Students participated in two sequential treatment groups: visual to visuo-haptic and haptic to visuo-haptic. The quantitative results suggest that both treatment groups performed significantly better in their model representations after being exposed to the learning experience but show no difference across treatment groups. The qualitative results suggest that the visual to visuo-haptic group interpreted their experiences much more coherently, leading to a more sophisticated version of their model of reaction forces on truss structures.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Magana, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Design|Educational technology|Science education|Cognitive psychology|Education|Energy|Higher education|Psychology

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