Development Of Software To Improve Learning And Laboratory Experience In Materials Science

The laboratory experience is a major component of any engineering program. The laboratory course is used to give students hands-on experience in verifying some of the major theoretical or physical concepts that they have used throughout their student careers. The knowledge gained in a laboratory courses usually leaves a lasting impression on students as related to experiential learning concepts. However, from a practical point of view, there are many factors that could hinder the effectiveness of the laboratory experience. Some of these factors are i) lack of familiarity of many students with procedure, ii) equipment availability and procedure, and iii) lack of experience with objectives and the expected outcome of the experiment. The purpose of this paper is to present the use of an interactive virtual laboratory experience that could provide a road map to the procedure, objectives, and expected outcome of an actual experiment. All normal laboratory functions such as following procedures, using equipment, making measurements, and performing analysis of data are performed in a virtual environment. Features such as a decision tree are built into the software to allow the student to make decisions (correct and incorrect ones) and observe the result of their decisions. The important features and the pedagogical techniques used in the developed software are presented. Initial response of the students exposed to this software, which has been positive, is also presented. Introduction The laboratory experience represents one of the few hands-on experiences in engineering education. This experience serves to reinforce theoretical concepts discussed in engineering courses and provides an experiential learning process. In order to have an effective laboratory experience, extensive personnel time must be used to assure a well organized experience with detailed procedures, and updated equipment. Often, even after extensive investment of time and resources by the university, the actual student experiences in these laboratory courses may not be positive ones. Generally, students express that some of the deficiencies of a laboratory P ge 831.1 “Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright 2003, American Society for Engineering Education” experience are related to i) lack of familiarity with the procedure, ii) equipment, iii) measurement tools and methods, iv) calculation techniques, and v) writing load. Interactive software could potentially address some of the deficiencies enumerated above (i, ii, iii, and iv) and improve the students learning experience and performance. With the more recent advances in multi-media communication technologies, the computer based delivery mode is making progress and it has become possible to design educational software that teaches a subject in an interactive fashion (Oblinger and Rush, 1997). Software has the ability to provide immediate feedback to the user as to the correctness of the approach and/or the solution. Although computer assisted instruction (CAI) is seemingly having an impact on undergraduate Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology education, it has yet to become a significant force in laboratory instruction. We suggest that a computerbased tool that allows the student to step into the experiment, follow a procedure, complete the experiment, collect and analyze data, and numerically report and assess his or her findings, allows a student-oriented learning process to take place that can significantly improve learning experience as compared to traditional laboratory techniques. This tool can decrease the reliance of the students on the instructor and allow the instructor to contribute in a more meaningful way to the learning process. Allowing interaction with the software is critical in order to avoid a purely demonstration experience and promote self-guided and student-empowered learning (Weller, 2002). Development of virtual laboratories is not a novel idea. Elsherbeni et al. developed one of the early virtual laboratories in microwave and electronics as purely a visualization tool (Elsherbeni et al., 1995). Some of the earlier efforts in the development of such tools in various engineering fields are those by Chevalier et al. in the mechanics area (Chevalier et al., 2000), Monter-Hernandez et al. in power electronics (Monter-Hernandez et al., 1999), Avouris et al. in computer-assisted laboratory courses (Avouris et al., 2001), and Wyatt et al. in geotechnical topics (Wyatt et al., 1999). Some of the more interactive efforts are those reported by Bhanduri and Shor in the area of Controls (Bhanduri and Shor, 1998), Budhu in Soil Mechanics (Budhu, 2001), and Schmid in Controls (Schmid, 1999). There is a tremendous amount of virtual laboratory software on various subjects available in the literature and on internet sites. Some subject areas are more adaptable to such approaches such as controls, power, circuits, mathematics, physics and then other areas require more visualization and programming such as those equipment-intensive laboratories in which the procedures are crucial and complex. In the specific area of materials science and engineering, there exists commercially available software that serves to enhance the learning experience of the students in this area. One such software is developed for the IntelliPro Inc. has developed an interactive Materials Science and Engineering software that accompanies a textbook on the same topic (Callister, 2000). The software is an excellent concept visualization and enhancement tool, but it is not a virtual laboratory. Another effort in the direction of multi-media virtual laboratories in the area of Mechanics and Materials science was recently reported (Khanna et al., 2002). The authors have developed, as part of an integrated mechanics and materials course, a virtual laboratory module on tensile testing which is an important concept and experience in all engineering programs. The software is interactive, allows for student participation, and is designed based on learning theories proposed by Russ on motivation to learn through software presentation (Russ, 1976).