This project, which is a collaboration of Northwestern, Norwich and Purdue Universities, is creating a web-based interactive version of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) sculpture to provide an effective learning opportunity and 24-7 access to students and educators in the United States and abroad. The AISC sculpture is a physical system that shows forty-eight types of connections found in standard construction practices. Because it is eight feet tall and weighs nearly 2500 pounds, students do not always have easy access to it. Moreover, today's students are more comfortable with web-based learning tools. The virtual sculpture shows close up view of each connection with descriptions of how it may be used, potential failure modes, sample calculations and field examples. In addition, to help students visualize the three-dimensional (3-D) nature of the stresses in each connection, 3-D finite element models are being created. The interactive tool is being designed to allow other educators and practicing engineers to contribute to the database of design calculations and field examples. Improving student understanding of steel connections is important because they play important roles in the integrity of structures; many structural failures are attributed to connection failures including the failures of the Hartford Civic Center in 1977, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City in 1980, and the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis in 2007.
Current research shows that Virtual Reality (VR) technology is particularly suitable to mathematics and science education. VR technology can present abstract concepts in concrete terms, offers the opportunity to manipulate concrete objects, and to bridge manipulatives with other representational forms. Therefore, recently, there has been significant progress in development of computer based interactive learning tools in many different areas. Steel connections play an important role in the integrity of a structure, and many structural failures are attributed to the connection failures. Good connection design requires engineers to have a good understanding of the mechanics of steel behavior and limitations. In order to help students better understand various connection types, and leveraging technology such as interactive web based learning tools, this collaborative research project: an interactive steel connection teaching tool – a virtual structure was created to provide the students with an interactive teaching tool that provides the students with a 360 degrees view of the steel connections, accessible 24/7 over the web from any computer platform, in addition it provides the students with field examples, close up pictures and sample calculations. The outcomes of this project are (1) an interactive steel sculpture application and (2) students’ data that show evidence of the pedagogical effectiveness of the interactive tool. We used Autodesk Maya software to model and texture the structure and to animate its functionality. The interactivity with the 3D components was programmed with C# using Unity 3D game development platform. Lighting and textures were optimized to render complex animated 3D meshes even on computers with limited graphics capabilities. The virtual steel structure can be used on a variety of platforms such as Windows and Mac OS operating systems. We conducted formative and summative evaluations with undergraduate engineering students at Purdue and collaborating institutions to assess the learning efficacy of the interactive tool. Findings demonstrate its educational effectiveness. Screen shots from the website:
