Teaching The Superposition Method With Internet Based Instructional Software

In the Mechanics of Materials course, one method used to determine beam deflections and support reactions for statically determinate and indeterminate beams is based on the concept of superposition. To help explain the theory and art of the superposition method, a series of 14 animated movies has been developed that present examples and strategies for applying superposition principles to common types of beams. To evaluate its effectiveness, experiments were conducted in which the customary lectures were replaced by use of this instructional software. Students who used the superposition software were compared to students in five other Mechanics of Materials sections on the basis of (a) score on a superposition problem included in the common final exam, (b) total score on the common final exam, and (c) a survey questionnaire consisting of a number of subjective rating items. Those students who used the superposition software were statistically comparable to the other students on all these outcome measures. In addition, there was evidence that low ability students benefited from the software in the form of increased motivation, in comparison to students in some of the other sections.