Gaming and Interactive Visualization for Education: A Multi-Disciplinary and Multi-University Collaborative Project

Abstract

Most people are more perceptive to the geometric rather than the symbolic representation of information. In engineering disciplines, visualization combined with game characteristics can provide an essential mode to facilitate students' understanding of important and abstract concepts, and improve students' willingness to learn. In this project, game characteristics are introduced into course module design, but different from commercially available games in that the level of the contents and assessment tools in this project are meaningful to teachers, students, and parents.This paper focuses on the design of the Gaming and Interactive Visualization for Education system. Specifically, some initial design results from the three universities for three different courses plus the development of evaluation system will be presented. The system is expected to (1) offer interactions with gaming scenarios that can excite emotions, (2) provide an engaging learning experience of understanding engineering concepts by allowing students to visualize and interact with 3-D objects in a game scenario, (3) employ situated learning by exposing students to the type of challenges they will face in industry, and (4) fit better with the learning styles of the majority of engineering students.. IntroductionStudent enrollment and graduation rates in U.S. engineering schools have been decreasing over the recent years, with the exception of only top academic institutions [1][2][3][4]. This phenomenon is related with students' lack of willingness to learn abstract engineering concepts. In engineering disciplines, learning through a medium that combines course materials with interactive visualization can be a powerful tool for education. Gaming and Interactive Visualization for Education (GIVE) is a game-like learning tool which is composed of game characteristics (e.g., a progressively balanced goal, feedback, multiple-goal structure, and scoring), 2D/3D visualization, and state-of-the-art interaction technologies to help undergraduate students learn, to improve the image of engineering, and to attract a greater number of high school students to the study of engineering.Current high school or undergraduate engineering students grew up in an era where video and computer games became one of the major components of the entertainment industry. The game approach in education has the potential to capture student interest and improve learning and teaching methods [6][7]. Sanderson and Millard [6] applied a team-based game strategy in manufacturing education, where students/users assumed the roles of product designer, manufacturing engineer, marketing expert, and product manager. . Researchers and industry have used virtual reality in geology, medicine, and automotive design, etc. for better understanding. But specific design of engineering courses, such as basic AME and EE courses, has yet to fully benefit from the application of game and visualization technology.GIVE is different from the conventional blackboard, PowerPoint based lectures,...

Gaming And Interactive Visualization For Education – Year 1 Progress

“…In terms of interaction between the GIVE and its users, the developed GIVE has the following three unique characteristics [7,8]. (1) GIVE uses a well-designed game scenario to enhance student's understanding and involvement.…”

“…Other game characteristics such as distance/asynchronous, progressively balanced goal, equal chance to win, feedback, clear goal, adaptive scoring, time sensitive scoring, meaningful visual presentation, emotional involvement, avoiding guess, real-time helps, core mechanics, background, maximum tries, challenges and rewards are all considered. The detailed information of where these game characteristics are considered can be found in [7,8].…”

“…According to the game scenario of a typical GIVE module, four databases are required: student performance database, question & answer database, movie database, and emotional involvement database. The detailed information of these databases can be found in [7,8]. Based on the database structure and the information flow, the course modules development is focused on the meaningful questions, corresponding movie clips, images, answers, and various hints.…”