Effectiveness of using a video game to teach a course in mechanical engineering

One of the core courses in the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum has been completely redesigned. In the new numerical methods course, all assignments and learning experiences are built around a video/computer game. Students are given the task of writing computer programs to race a simu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers and education 2009-11, Vol.53 (3), p.900-912
Main Authors: Coller, B.D., Scott, M.J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applications in mechanical engineering
Concept Formation
Concept Mapping
Conventional Instruction
Engineering
Engineering Education
Interactive learning environments
Mathematical Concepts
Methods Courses
Post-secondary education
Programming
Scientific Concepts
Simulation
Teacher Education
Teaching Methods
Undergraduate Study
Video Games
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:One of the core courses in the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum has been completely redesigned. In the new numerical methods course, all assignments and learning experiences are built around a video/computer game. Students are given the task of writing computer programs to race a simulated car around a track. In doing so, students learn and implement numerical methods content. The design of the course, around a video game, is rooted in commonly accepted theories of how people learn. The article describes a study to assess the effectiveness of the video game-based course. Results show that students taking the game-based course, on average, spend roughly twice as much time, outside of class, on their course work. In a concept mapping exercise, students taking the game-based course demonstrate deeper learning compared to their counterparts taking traditional lecture/textbook-based numerical methods courses.
ISSN:0360-1315
1873-782X
DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.05.012