Liao, Y., & Liu, S. (2020, March), MechGames: Teaching and Learning Dynamics through Computer Simulations and Games  Paper presented at 2020 ASEE North Central Section conference, Morgantown, West Virginia. 10.18260/1-2--35740

\bibitem{asee_peer_35740}
  Liao, Y., \& Liu, S. (2020, March), \emph{MechGames: Teaching and Learning Dynamics through Computer Simulations and Games}
  Paper presented at 2020 ASEE North Central Section conference, Morgantown, West Virginia.
  10.18260/1-2--35740

Yabin Liao and Sheng Liu.  "MechGames: Teaching and Learning Dynamics through Computer Simulations and Games".  2020 ASEE North Central Section conference, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2020, March.  ASEE Conferences, 2020.  https://peer.asee.org/35740 Internet.  20 Apr, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_35740}
  Yabin Liao and Sheng Liu.
  "MechGames: Teaching and Learning Dynamics through Computer Simulations and Games".
  \emph{2020 ASEE North Central Section conference, Morgantown, West Virginia, 2020, March}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2020.
  https://peer.asee.org/35740 Internet.  20 Apr, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_35740
author = "Yabin Liao and Sheng Liu"
title = "MechGames: Teaching and Learning Dynamics through Computer Simulations and Games"
booktitle = "2020 ASEE North Central Section conference"
year = "2020"
month = "March"
address = "Morgantown, West Virginia"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/35740}
number = {10.18260/1-2--35740}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education has become a top priority due to growing concerns regarding a shortage in the U.S. STEM workforce. Many initiatives have been taken to encourage and engage in teaching innovation to better prepare a diverse and globally competitively STEM workforce. There are numerous innovative educational tools and methods developed and studied to build and sustain interests in the STEM fields. Engineering Mechanics is the foundation of many upper-level engineering courses. Dynamics, in particular, is a challenging subject for many students, partly due to the difficulty of visualizing some of the important concepts. With the explosion of digital technologies in recent years, computer simulation and animation have drawn great interest as a tool to teach and learn this subject. Computer simulations present concepts in a dynamic environment and allow interactivity. It helps students observe and interact with computer representations of physical phenomena, and develop deeper understanding of critical concepts. On the other hand, computer games are essentially based on computer simulations but usually they are informal with explicit goals and rules, and are designed for entertainment. This paper introduces the so-called MechGames (Mechanics Games) project, which aims to blend simulations and games together to teach important concepts, and engage students with problem-solving activities that require critical thinking skills in a game-like environment, making learning more exciting and enjoyable for students. The vision is to create a series of modules on key concept of the Dynamics course. The modules will be self-contained with three modes: teaching/learning, assessment, and gaming. As an initial attempt, a pilot module has been developed on the subject of projectile motion. This module was deployed in this Fall semester and a survey was conducted to obtain student feedback. Overall, the student thought highly about the module. The module helped them learn the concepts by actually “seeing” the concepts. The game-like setting helped create a more exciting learning environment, challenge their minds in a meaningful way, and directly connect their efforts with accomplishments. 
AU  - Yabin Liao
AU  - Sheng Liu
CY  - Morgantown, West Virginia
DA  - 2020/03/27
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - MechGames: Teaching and Learning Dynamics through Computer Simulations and Games
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/35740
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--35740
ER  -