To remain competitive, the construction industry in the U.S. requires a highly-trained and diverse workforce. The Virtual Interactive Construction Education project uses cyber-infrastructure tools to transform traditional subject-based lectures into project-based, interactive simulations in order to improve the quality and efficiency of undergraduate education. The learning modules place students in the full context of running a construction project in a computer-generated simulation environment. The project uses the simulation module along with assessment tools to determine the effectiveness of the module for student learning and engagement.
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Project Outcomes Report Virtual Interactive Construction Education (VICE) is a developmental proposal for a project-based pedagogical model that uses cyberinfrastructure tools to improve the quality and efficiency of undergraduate STEM education. It transforms traditional subject-based lectures in construction engineering and management programs to project-based virtual interactive simulations. It scaffolds learning by introducing increasingly more complex concepts throughout the project while concurrently withdrawing support. This new pedagogical approach is a holistic model that mimics real life with curriculum topics introduced as needed in a project orientation through a simulated environment. This first module is VICE-Bridge where players learn the steps to build a single span bridge through interactive iterations. Players first assign resources to individual activities in an attempt to arrive at the minimum cost and time. The goal of this research program is to overcome the limitations of traditional subject-oriented approaches in construction education and place students in the situated context of running construction projects through computer generated simulations within a serious game. VICE-Bridge was tested with approximately 110 high school juniors attending an academy for students interested in engineering and 60 sophomore level construction engineering and management students. The high school sample was approximately equally distributed by gender. Domain knowledge gain was measured using a baseline pre-test and compared against measures collected within the game. The game records time to complete, number of attempts, requests for help, project cost, project time, and responses to education modules. The pre-test results were compared with the post-test results using descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation and frequency. A paired sample t-test was used to determine if there was a meaningful difference between the pre and post-test performance scores at a significance level of .05. The evaluations built into the game showed that all participants had some level of gains in domain knowledge. Participants completed a survey at the end of the intervention to determine levels of engagement, changes in interest in STEM and construction disciplines, and self-assessment of learning gain. Participants reported that the exercise was engaging and they reported learning gains in five of six areas. The most striking result of the survey was the self-reported increased interest in STEM and construction as a result of this exercise. Seventy-nine percent of the construction engineering and management students, who presumably already had a high interest in construction discipline since it is their chosen field of study, indicated an increase interest in construction after having been exposed to VICE-Bridge. Some also indicated an increased interest, albeit to a lesser extent, in science (37%), technology (69%), engineering (74%), and mathematics (31%). High school participants reported increased interest in construction (43%), science (43%), technology (52%), Engineering (53%), and Mathematics (40%) as a result of their exposure to VICE-Bridge. Some gender differences exist in perceived learning gains for the high school students. The combination of project-orientation and simulation in a game platform places students in a safe, situated context that allows for learning through trial and error. This has the potential to reduce the learning curve in the field where errors in judgment can be costly in a variety of parameters including worker safety. In male dominated disciplines, like construction, this model may level the playing field for females by providing an alternative to work experience that is necessary for advancement to management position, often situated amidst hostile field environments. This pedagogical model has broad implications in other project-oriented STEM disciplines with similar complexities.
