Manipulatives in Engineering Statics: Supplementing Analytical Techniques with Physical Models

In order to assist students, gain conceptual understanding of internal forces, a physical manipulative of a truss was developed in order to help students visualize, feel, and analyze the behavior of the material being manipulated. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how a physical manipulative of a truss contributed to the conceptual understanding of truss analysis in statics. In this study, six students were presented with a simple problem of a truss, where no measurements or numerical quantities were provided, and asked to determine which members where in tension or compression. Subsequently, the participants were given a model of a physical manipulative resembling the same problem they were given before and asked the same questions. Preliminary qualitative results indicated that physical manipulative helped students visualize concepts taught in the classroom and provided a venue to gain conceptual understanding of internal forces.

[1]  Daniel M. Belenky,et al.  Examining the Role of Manipulatives and Metacognition on Engagement, Learning, and Transfer , 2009, J. Probl. Solving.

[2]  Lesley A. Rex.  The Remaking of a High School Reader. , 2001 .

[3]  G. Olympiou,et al.  Blending Physical and Virtual Manipulatives: An Effort to Improve Students' Conceptual Understanding through Science Laboratory Experimentation , 2012 .

[4]  J. Mitchell,et al.  Case and Situation Analysis , 1983 .

[5]  Elizabeth M. Vesilind,et al.  Hands-On: Science Education Reform , 1996 .

[6]  Lars Owe Dahlgren,et al.  Applying phenomenography in nursing research. , 2002, Journal of advanced nursing.

[7]  M. Gail Jones,et al.  The impact of haptic augmentation on middle school students’ conceptions of the animal cell , 2006, Virtual Reality.

[8]  P. Smagorinsky.  The Method Section as Conceptual Epicenter in Constructing Social Science Research Reports , 2008 .

[9]  Tun Hussein,et al.  Effect of Instructions on Spatial Visualisation Ability in Civil Engineering Students , 2002 .

[10]  Paul S. Steif,et al.  A Statics Concept Inventory: Development and Psychometric Analysis , 2005 .

[11]  D. Schunk,et al.  Risk Taking: Theoretical, Empirical, and Educational Considerations , 1991 .

[12]  Patricia S. Moyer-Packenham,et al.  Effective Choices and Practices: Knowledgeable and Experienced Teachers' Uses of Manipulatives to Teach Mathematics , 2013 .

[13]  Linda Jarvin,et al.  When Theories Don't Add Up: Disentangling he Manipulatives Debate , 2007 .

[14]  Meredith D. Gall,et al.  Educational Research: An Introduction , 1965 .

[15]  Lara M. Triona,et al.  Hands on What? The Relative Effectiveness of Physical versus Virtual Materials in an Engineering Design Project by Middle School Children , 2007 .

[16]  Alejandra J. Magana,et al.  Investigating The Impact Of Visuohaptic Simulations For Conceptual Understanding In Electricity And Magnetism , 2013 .

[17]  Paul S. Steif,et al.  New Practices for Administering and Analyzing the Results of Concept Inventories , 2007 .

[18]  Brianno Coller,et al.  An experiment in hands-on learning in engineering mechanics: Statics , 2008 .

[19]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data , 1984 .

[20]  Chris Rogers,et al.  The benefits of model building in teaching engineering design , 2010 .

[21]  Paul S. Steif,et al.  Learning Modules for Statics , 2006 .

[22]  Paul S. Steif,et al.  Comparisons Between Performances in a Statics Concept Inventory and Course Examinations , 2006 .

[23]  M. Rosenberg,et al.  Social Psychology of the Self Concept , 1982 .