Conference Session

Poster Sessions for Unit Operations Lab Bazaar and Tenure-Track Faculty

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laura Coon, Washington State University; Paul B. Golter, Washington State University; Derek Allen Cline, Washington State University; David B. Thiessen, Washington State University; Bernard J. Van Wie, Washington State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

Programs”, won the 2008 ASEE Best Conference Paper Award. She has served as evaluator on a num- ber of multi-institutional, interdisciplinary NSF sponsored grants. She is principal investigator on a NSF Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering project called ”A Direct Method for Teaching and Measuring Engineering Professional Skills: A Validity Study.”David B. Thiessen, Washington State University David B.Thiessen received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1992 and has been at Washington State University since 1994. His research interests include fluid physics, acoustics, and engineering education.Bernard J. Van Wie, Washington State University Prof. Bernard J. Van

Conference Session

Program Criteria, Assessment, and Sustainability in Civil Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ronald W. Welch, University of Texas, Tyler

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

years. Thecapstone rubrics at UT Tyler provide direct assessment of almost every outcome, but theresults are for team projects. Therefore, the use of embedded indicators (direct measures)provide the best direct measurement of student demonstration of each outcome bycollecting results for the best student, the average student, and the worst studentperformance leading to a better collection of data representing students demonstration ofeach outcome.2.0 Direct Assessment Process at UT TylerGenerally the assessment process is a lonely job performed by one or maybe two facultyin a program. Many faculty do not know who is doing the work and they really do notcare. The person in charge (even if the chair) begs peers to submit their assigned input ina

Conference Session

Educational Research and Methods Potpourri I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hyun Kyoung Ro, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

doctorate), and two levels of "typeof control" (public or private). The total sample of 32 four-year colleges and universities was―pre-seeded‖ with nine pre-selected institutions. These included the six case study institutionsparticipating in a companion project (Prototyping the Engineer of 2020) and three institutionswith general engineering programs. Penn State’s Survey Research Center selected 25 additionalinstitutions at random from the population within the 6x3x2 framework above. The final samplealso included three historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and three Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs). The sampling design ensured that the sample institutions arerepresentative of the population with respect to type, mission, and

Conference Session

They're Not "Soft" Skills!

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brook Sattler, University of Washington; Ashley Ann Thompson, University of Washington; Jennifer A. Turns, University of Washington; Deborah Kilgore, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

had‖ wasvery important, especially within the context of employability. Before the portfolio process,Nolan was unaware of his personal, unique contributions to engineering, but after he was giventime and space to reflect and in conjunction with talking with peers, Nolan discovered that hehad a tremendous affinity towards leadership positions, which he hadn’t realized before. Nolanwas able to concretize his various life experiences into an attractive, employable skill that hecould market to engineering firms after graduation.For example, Nolan described being captain of the soccer team in high school and how he taughtyounger children to play soccer for his (high school) senior service project. He had notrecognized these activities as

Conference Session

Knowing Ourselves: Research on Engineering Education Researchers

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Krishna Madhavan, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Hanjun Xian, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Aditya Johri, Virginia Tech; Mihaela Vorvoreanu, Purdue University; Brent K. Jesiek, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Phillip C. Wankat, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

great demand of understanding the birth and growth of engineering educationresearch, no previous study has comprehensively covered a broad range of knowledge productsin engineering education research. Nor did any project attempt to construct a highly interactiveplatform that allows researchers to explore the field in a visual and intuitive way.3. MethodologyFigure 1 illustrates the architecture and workflow of iKNEER. As a data-intensive gateway,iKNEER first (1) collects knowledge products such as academic articles and grant proposalsfrom a variety of sources periodically using well-known crawling strategies. As a cyber-tool forresearchers to explore the field, the web-based interface of iKNEER (2) processes useroperations on the website

Conference Session

Design Education II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert L. Mott, University of Dayton; Terrance L. Speicher, Pennsylvania State University, Berks College

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

Institute, and a M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University.Terrance L. Speicher, Pennsylvania State University, Berks College Terrance L. Speicher is an Assistant Professor of Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, Berks College, Reading, PA. He earned his BSME degree from Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute, Troy, NY, and his MSME and MSEE degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of California and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a certified Project Management Professional in the United States. He practiced engineering at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Hughes Space and Communications Company, and

Conference Session

Two Year-to-Four Year Transfer Topics Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kevin Lemoine, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; James K. Nelson, University of Texas, Tyler; Lynn L. Peterson, University of Texas, Arlington; James Sells, San Jacinto College, Central Campus; Mary Eileen Smith, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Tagged Divisions

Two Year College Division

Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board since 1987 and now serves as Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Academic Planning and Policy. She is responsible for the administration and management of matters related to the Board’s higher education academic planning and policy functions, and she provides leadership on key projects, reports, and studies that cut across divisions of the agency. She has taught at The University of Texas at Austin, and she currently is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Communication at St. Edward’s University in Austin. Smith serves as the project coordinator for the $1.8 million productivity grant awarded to Texas from Lumina Foundation for Education to plan methods of making the opportunity

Conference Session

Thinking Outside the Box! Innovative Curriculum Exchange for K12 Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Blake C. Wade, University of Texas, Arlington and Kennedale High School, Kennedale ISD; Yvette Pearson Weatherton, University of Texas, Arlington; Melanie L. Sattler P.E., University of Texas, Arlington

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Keeley. Wade is currently living in Arlington, Texas. Email: blakecwade@gmail.comYvette Pearson Weatherton, University of Texas, Arlington Dr. Yvette Pearson Weatherton received her Ph.D. in Engineering and Applied Science (Environmental Engineering) from the University of New Orleans in 2000. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. Dr. Pearson Weatherton’s expertise is in the areas of air quality including monitoring and modeling and engineering education. She is currently PI or Co-PI on a number of NSF-funded engineering education projects including ”UTA RET Site for Hazard Mitigation”, which is the basis for this paper. She is a registered Professional

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching: Mechanics

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jim M. Papadopoulos, University of Wisconsin - Stout; Christopher Papadopoulos, University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus; Vincent C. Prantil, Milwaukee School of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

modeling in an engineering design graphicscourse. Cole (1999)3 articulated a similar strategy to include FEA as part of a philosophy ofintegrating CAD into the Mechanical Engineering Technology curriculum. Ural & Yost (2010)4report developing a freshman level project to investigate the behavior of a SMARTBEAM®, inwhich the FEA and experimental measurements are conducted simultaneously and compared. Ineach of these cases, use of FEA as a practical tool is emphasized, and none appeared to requirestudents to learn the underlying FE theory or to know principles of mechanics of materials apriori. Numerous other examples, not cited here, appear to exist in introductory freshman designcourses.In contrast to the situation with freshman courses

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steve Warren, Kansas State University; Xiongjie Dong, Kansas State University; Tim J. Sobering, Kansas State University; Jason Yao, East Carolina University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees

research interests are laboratory/project-driven learning and integration of research into undergraduate education. Dr. Yao is a member of the American Society of Engineering Education and a senior member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Page 22.91.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 A Rapid Analysis and Signal Conditioning Laboratory (RASCL) Design Compatible with the National Instruments myDAQ® PlatformAbstractVirtual instruments and mobile data acquisition hardware for engineering education offerflexibility in learning venues and can help to

Conference Session

Innovative Adult and Technology Enhanced Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Stephen W. Crown, University of Texas, Pan American; Arturo A. Fuentes, University of Texas, Pan American; Robert A. Freeman, University of Texas-Pan American

Tagged Divisions

Continuing Professional Development

deliberately prepared for each series of activities. Workshops were carefully structured tomeet specific learning objectives. An online system was developed to provide continued facultymotivation and engagement. Structured workdays were developed to help faculty satisfydeliverables. Promotion of the program relied on both formal and informal (word of mouth)advertising to attract appropriate participants. Participants were given the challenge of makingtheir work public and “Leaving Legacies” for others to benefit from. Each element contributingto the success of the faculty development plan are explained in detail with specific examples ofhow they were implemented.A Proven Pedagogical Approach (Challenge Based Instruction)The objective of the project

Conference Session

Biological & Agricultural Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

lourdes gazca, American University, Puebla, Mexico; Aurelio Lopez-Malo, American University, Puebla, Mexico; Enrique Palou, American University, Puebla, Mexico

Tagged Divisions

Biological & Agricultural

section). EI-100 goal isto introduce students to the Engineering Method, this is accomplished by focusing on six courseobjectives: self-regulation, communication, working cooperatively and collaboratively, problemsolving, modeling, and quality. The “Modeling” section initiates students in the process ofengineering modeling, using several software including spreadsheets. “Concepts” introducestudents to the engineering design process, problem-solving techniques, working in teams,engineering as a profession, and planning for success that students then apply in “Laboratory” ontwo actual design projects. The “Concepts” section uses quizzes given in nearly every session toascertain whether students have understood the material in their pre-class

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Garret Nicodemus, University of Colorado, Boulder, Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering; John L. Falconer P.E., University of Colorado, Boulder; Will Medlin, University of Colorado, Boulder

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees

), providing clearerdescriptions of the screencasts, and simply making more of them. Screencasts are currentlybeing prepared with the goal of at least 75 screencasts for each of the six core chemicalengineering courses that are the focus of this project: thermodynamics, material and energybalances, separations, heat transfer, fluids, and kinetics. Screencasts will be organized accordingto dominant textbooks used in those courses, and more detailed descriptions will be added tohelp direct viewers.Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge support by NSF-CCLI grant DUE-0920640, by Shell Oil, and bythe College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Engineering Excellence Fund at the Universityof Colorado.References1. Lewin, T. (2010, January 20). If

Conference Session

Build Diversity in Engineering Graduate Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carl White, Morgan State University; Clifton Sean Martin, Innovative STEM Foundation (ISF); Maisha Drew, Innovative STEM Foundation; Givon Forbes, Innovative STEM Foundation (ISF)

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

successful exposure and recruitment efforts over the past fewyears, including conferences, summer programs, in-school programs, and other initiatives. In Fall2010, the inaugural Science and Engineering Festival was held in Washington, D.C with strongsupport from the White House and Congress. There was over 500,000 individuals from all agesand backgrounds that attended the festival where they were exposed to hundreds of companiesand over a thousand different hands-on exhibits. Another STEM initiative is Project Lead TheWay (PLTW), which is an extremely effective program, with a strong history of success. PLTWoffers a rigorous, engaging, hands-on curriculum to provide middle school and high schoolstudents with a relevant, quality STEM education. Other

Conference Session

Learning Outside the Classroom

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cheryl Allendoerfer, University of Washington; Jessica M. Yellin, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Educational Research and Methods

” mentoring look like?By ―informal‖ mentoring we refer to interactions during a student‘s research experience thatinvolve the student‘s research mentor, but are not explicitly related to the procedures or contentof the research project at hand. These interactions may occur either inside or outside of theformal research setting, but are consistent with the ―anywhere, anytime‖ learning that tends totake place in settings defined as ―informal‖ by the National Science Foundation31, such as ―a Page 22.971.6home, a museum, a street, a virtual or augmented reality game.‖31 The episodes discussed hereare typically one-on-one interactions and may include

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering Laboratories I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Arif Sirinterlikci, Robert Morris University; Tony Lee Kerzmann, Robert Morris University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

kits to accommodate for design projects. The VEX Robotics DevelopmentSystem also provides pre-drawn SolidWorks VEX parts that would allow for the CAD design ofa mechanical system such as the robot vehicle shown in 6 by assembly of the parts. Figure 6: DDS SolidWorks Assembly of a Robot Vehicle Using Pre-Drawn VEX parts (DDS Photo Works rendered)ConclusionsTo further develop classroom understanding and course laboratories across the introductory,intermediate, and advanced levels of engineering, an initiative to introduce mechanical systemskits has been developed. The initiative incorporates the modularity and integrated softwarecapabilities of the VEX Robotics Development System as well as the SolidWorks CAD and

Conference Session

Innovations in Teaching Physics or Engineering Physics I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Patricia F. Mead, Norfolk State University; Ruth A. Streveler, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Lauren D. Thomas, Virginia Tech; Candace A. Cobb, Norfolk State University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Physics & Physics

curriculum.Faculty researchers at Norfolk State University have launched a project to better understandcommon misconceptions of students as they matriculate through the undergraduate opticalengineering program. The effort has begun with a third-year course on laser systems. The NSUlasers course represents the first opportunity for students to learn and understand how a practicaloptoelectronic system operates, and the course also features an emphasis on design. Manystudents experience difficulty in the course based on factors such as unfamiliar jargon, and thecourse is a re-visitation of several principals that have first been introduced in their freshmanyear Physics course, but may not been strongly reinforced during the second year curriculum.Others

Conference Session

Myths About Gender and Race

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Deborah Kilgore, University of Washington; Sheri Sheppard, Stanford University; Cynthia J. Atman, University of Washington; Debbie Chachra, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

evolution of the engineering curriculum since she joined the faculty in 2003. Her current research interests are twofold: as well as her research in biological materials (cur- rently focused on bioderived plastics synthesized by bees), she also researches the engineering student experience, including persistence and migration, differences by gender, and the role of self-efficacy in project-based learning. In 2010, she received an NSF CAREER Award in support of her research on engineering education. Page 22.1081.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Motivation

Conference Session

State of Manufacturing Engineering Education

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Wendel, Sinclair Community College

Tagged Divisions

Manufacturing

AC 2011-1008: TRENDS IN MANUFACTURING EDUCATION PROGRAMS:2011 REPORTSteve Wendel, Sinclair Community College Steve Wendel Director, National Center for Manufacturing Education www.ncmeresource.org Director, Project Lead The Way - Ohio Affiliate www.pltwohio.org Sinclair Community College 444 W. Third St. Dayton, Ohio 45402 email: steven.wendel@sinclair.edu phone: 937.512.2841 fax: 937.512.2475 Page 22.1553.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 TRENDS IN MANUFACTURING EDUCATION PROGRAMS - 2011 REPORT

Conference Session

Student Learning and Assessment I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey G Marchetta, University of Memphis; Edward H. Perry, University of Memphis; Carol Stephens, Norwich University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

compared to other components such as graded homework, projects, etc. Instructorsgenerally note an increase in student enthusiasm and attentiveness when instructors link contentin a lecture or worked example with an upcoming exam. Given all those observations, theauthors hypothesized that it may be possible to increase student participation in assignedhomework by explicitly linking the homework with the exam component of the course.The difficulty with explicit linking of the homework to the course exams is that it leads to aregurgitation of homework solutions on the exams. This is not an effective approach inevaluating the student’s understanding of the principles covered in the class. The trick, then, isto give the students incentive to

Conference Session

Oceans & Marine Technical Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Deidre Sullivan, Marine Advanced Technology Education Center; Jill Marie Zande, Marine Advanced Technology Education Center

Tagged Divisions

Ocean and Marine

. Marine Technology Society Journal. V.39, n.4, pp. 99-104 10 U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, 2004. An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century. 2004. Final Report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. Washington D.C., 2004, pp. 413Acknowledgements:This project is supported in part by the National Science Foundation DUE/ATE-0703197 Page 22.1479.6

Conference Session

A Systems-Thinking Approach to Solving Problems

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yumin Zhang, Southeast Missouri State University; David K. Probst, Southeast Missouri State University

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering

different majors, they canchoose the system they are most familiar with. First they need to gather useful information, andthen set up their system model to simulate its behavior. Two or three students can work as agroup, and they can collaborate and improve the model they created. After completing thesimulation and verification, they need to write a project report and present the result to the wholeclass. Besides, students are also required to write four essays on the remaining five kinds ofsystems. In these essays students need to review the concepts and theories, and include at leastone application.II. Course OutlineThe first part of this course is an introduction to the basic concepts of system thinking. First,stock and flow are introduced as

Conference Session

A Systems-Thinking Approach to Solving Problems

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adeel Khalid, Southern Polytechnic State University; Isaiah Waindi, SPSU Systems Engineering Graduate

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering

they seek to modernizeand produce more electricity. They must consider renewable energy systems from the onset ofdevelopment.Renewable EnergyRenewable energy sources offer great potential to solving some of Africa’s energy problems. Asshown in figure four (4), renewable energy use is projected to continue increasing however itdoes not keep pace with use from natural gas or coal. Therefore renewable energy solutions mustbe developed to reduce the dependency on coal for instance.Africa has many avenues for renewable energy including: • Solar power • Geothermal energy • Hydropower • Biomass energy • Wind energy Page 22.1237.7

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Morgan M Hynes, Tufts University; Ann F. McKenna, Arizona State University, Polytechnic; Chris Rogers, Tufts University; Megan Kiely Mueller, Tufts University; Xaver Neumeyer, Northwestern University; Richard M. Lerner, Tufts University

Tagged Topics

NSF Grantees

usefully provide engineering educators, policy makers, andbusiness and industry leaders heretofore unavailable scientific information about how to assessand to integrate key features of the development of behavioral characteristics in promotingengineering achievement across the college years. Our goal was that this information wouldprovide a model for future engineering education research and a baseline against which futureeducational innovations may be measured. It will also help faculty better balance hard and lifeskill sets in the undergraduate curriculum.To implement our research, the project team designed and conducted a web survey. The surveywas adapted from Freund and Baltes9 and included information about students' majors, GPA,activities

Conference Session

Liberal Education Revisited: Five Historical Perspectives

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Atsushi Akera, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society

Larson have come to view professional stature and jurisdictional claimsas part of a “professional project” entered into by all occupations that are in a position to claimsome socially beneficial form of expertise.16 Still, this basic “relational” approach that focuses onthe social relations among the occupations is of little value, in and of itself, for analyzingdifferences among the professions, or for understanding how specific professions operate.From this point of view, Edwin Layton‟s early analysis of engineering professional societiesremains quite useful for thinking in terms of different and distinct “professional configurations.”Extracting from what he and others have written, the two most frequently noted features of theU.S. engineering

Conference Session

Innovative Adult and Technology Enhanced Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gale Tenen Spak, New Jersey Institute of Technology; Peter Schmitt, Schmitt & Associates, LLC; Cesar Bandera, Cell Podium LLC

Tagged Divisions

Continuing Professional Development

to North Jersey under the Workforce Innovation for Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative.Peter Schmitt, Schmitt & Associates, LLC Peter Schmitt has extensive experience in both academia and industry. He started out with a study of physics at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany. He did his Ph.D. at DESY (Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron) in Hamburg and work at CERN (Geneva) as a postdoctoral research assistant for Harvard University. Peter Schmitt went into industry starting as project manager for the development or car phones at AEG in Ulm. In 1995 he moved to the United States to work for BASF in various IT positions, among them Director of Infrastructure in the U.S. and Project Leader for SAP

Conference Session

Structural Education Applications in Architectural Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Pyo-Yoon Hong, Southern Polytechnic State University

Tagged Divisions

Architectural

Page 22.1362.9 semester for future references.Student Evaluation and SurveysCourse evaluations and mid-term surveys over the last 3 years reveal that student stronglysupport this teaching methodology. The term project and small-scale models have received themost favorable feedback. Construction toys and physical demonstrators rank the second, the 3-Dinteractive demonstration tool the third, the real-time simulation sessions the fourth and theconventional mathematical approach sessions the last. Another sign of the students’ support isthat the enrollment for this class, among 4 sections of the same course, becomes full on the veryfirst day of registration while the numbers of enrollment of other sections still remain low. Mostimportantly, an

Conference Session

Program Criteria, Assessment, and Sustainability in Civil Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Melissa M. Bilec, University of Pittsburgh; Chris Hendrickson, Carnegie Mellon University; Amy E. Landis, University of Pittsburgh; Scott Matthews, Carnegie Mellon University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

engineersinto student projects as the assistant director of education outreach in the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, Pitt’s center for green design.Chris Hendrickson, Carnegie Mellon UniversityAmy E. Landis, University of PittsburghH. Scott Matthews, Carnegie Mellon University H. Scott Matthews is a Professor in the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and En- gineering & Public Policy and the Research Director of the Green Design Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. The Green Design Institute is an interdisciplinary research consortium at Carnegie Mellon fo- cused on identifying and assessing the environmental impacts of systems and helping businesses manage their use of resources and toxic

Conference Session

Simulation

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert L. Avanzato, Pennsylvania State University, Abington

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

will be briefly discussed below. The first project to be described is an interactive, 3D virtual exhibit thatdemonstrates and teaches basic mobile robot programming. The exhibit requires users tocreate a list of commands to control the motion of a mobile robot in a maze (see Figures 3and 4). The goal for the user is to create an appropriate sequence of commands whichresult in a successful navigation of the maze. Users can create simple notecards inSecond Life and insert text commands such as “Forward 2.5” which translates into movethe robot forward for 2.5 seconds. Commands allow for motion to be applied for avariable amount of time, and also permit turning. These notecards can be dropped into therobot object, then can be parsed by the

Conference Session

Computers in Education Poster Session

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bruce Eric Davis, Purdue University; David M. Whittinghill, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Computers in Education

“commercial” game can be when itis discreetly filled with educational content. In this project, topics relating to introductorycomputer science will be used as the educational subject matter.IntroductionWe have been developing a modification of an existing commercial video game to investigatethe feasibility of adapting them toward educational objectives. The game we are using is a “first-person shooter”, meaning that the player inhabits a digital avatar character and sees the virtualworld through the eyes of the avatar. We are creating a gauntlet-style series of game levels thatscale up and down in difficulty based on the player’s understanding of basic computerprogramming principles. The player’s goal is to survive the level while also maximizing