Engineering representations guide student problem‐solving in statics

Web-based Course Materials for Engineering Statics

Computer-based learning materials eventually forming an entire online course in Statics are presented. The course, developed as part of the Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative (OLI) and available to individual learners and institutions, draws upon the authors’ ongoing work to reorganize Statics instruction to better address the conceptual challenges students face. Comprising approximately ...

Student Presentation Guide

Manipulatives in Engineering Statics: Supplementing Analytical Techniques with Physical Models

In order to assist students, gain conceptual understanding of internal forces, a physical manipulative of a truss was developed in order to help students visualize, feel, and analyze the behavior of the material being manipulated. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how a physical manipulative of a truss contributed to the conceptual understanding of truss analysis in static...

An Experiment in Hands-On Learning in Engineering Mechanics: Statics

Students in an introductory engineering mechanics (statics) course are randomly divided into two groups. Both groups receive identical instruction except for roughly once per week, for the first half of the semester. During these exceptional sessions, one group is given hands-on manipulatives with which to solidify concepts, while the other group is not. The degree of learning is assessed with ...

Generative Representations in Structural Engineering

This paper proposes a new approach to representing structural system inspired by various models of complex systems. Several types of generative representations of steel structural systems are provided and empirically investigated. These representations utilize various kinds of cellular automata to generate design concepts of steel structures in tall buildings. In the paper, a brief overview of ...