Interactive Simulation of Engineering
Experiments Inspired by Game-Design
http://www.wmich.edu/mae/research_labs/vms_lab/
D. Litynski1, P. Ari-Gur1, P. Thannhauser1, R. Rabiej1, P.
Ikonomov1, J. Johnston2, T. Bayne1, S. Hoin1, MM Hassan3
1Western
Michigan University
2Muskegon Community College
3Louisiana State University
SALT Conference, Orlando, FL March 2014
Interactive Simulation of Engineering Experiments
Inspired by Game-Design
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CEAS
Modern 265-acre campus, 5 km south of main campus
Includes a Business Technology and Research Park -designated as a Michigan SmartZone and is home
to companies in the life sciences, information
technology and advanced engineering.
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Funding for the Project
This project was funded by
• Hewlett Packard's Higher Education HP Technology
for Teaching Grant program (2008-10)
• The HP Catalyst program (2010-13)
• The National Science Foundation (NSF) grant
number 1140348 (2012-2015)
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Concrete and asphalt video
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Outline
 Background
 Why Virtual Lab?
 Goals and Objectives
 Design of the Virtual Lab
o Experiments and Data Collection
o Videos
o Simulations
o Lab Manual
 Conclusions
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Background
 Despite the growing need for engineers in the
US workforce, there has not been a significant
increase in engineering degrees awarded =>
NSF foresees that the US workforce will not
have enough engineers in the future.
 Engineering is a very demanding curriculum.
Even when students begin their studies as
undergraduate engineering majors, the
graduation rate is less than 50%.
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Why Virtual Lab?
Lab exercises reinforce the
lecture and address the
needs of certain learning
styles However…
Simulation by Emiliya Ikonomova
 Material science processes may take several
hours (or days) to complete in the real lab.
 They require major time commitment
from both students and instructors.
 They are costly.
 An error in the real lab can become a
major safety hazard.
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Why Virtual Lab? (cont’d)
Simulation by Emiliya Ikonomova
 The ‘millennial student’ grew up with computer games,
like Nintendo and social and academic interaction like
Second Life; 3-D virtual reality presents an attractive,
effective way to learn. The millennial student feels
comfortable in cyberspace.
 Virtual Laboratory is more accessible to disabled
students.
 Virtual laboratory can be used in recruiting K-12
events.
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Goals of the VL Project
Transform teaching and improve classroom
learning with innovative use of technology.
Improve success rate in materials science
sophomore-level course
Transform the actual lab experience to a
virtual lab by combining virtualization,
applications, concepts and technology
Use for outreach to a younger audience
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Inspired by Game-Design
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Project Development Steps
 Design real lab experiments.
 Perform the experiments in the lab.
 Produce video-tapes of the experiments.
 Develop VL modules (simulations) using
videotapes and data.
 Produce a manual for the Virtual Lab.
 Train VL instructors.
 Assess the Enhancement of Student Learning
(and further improve the lab)
 Disseminate to other sites in the US and around
the globe.
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Video Annotations
 Text
and Subtitles: Added to emphasize
important aspects
 Cartoons were edited and incorporated into
the Video
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Interactive Simulation of Engineering Experiments
Inspired by Game-Design
Video Example
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by Game-Design
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Development of lab modules
 There were several authoring software packages used:
EON studio, a state-of-the-art virtual reality development
tool was used for hardness tester, rolling machine and heat
treatment; Unity3D, a popular game design engine was
used for concrete and asphalt testing; and LabVIEW, a
programming language for developing virtual instruments
was used for the X-ray diffraction module.
 Principles used in the virtual lab experiments:
– The experiments have to simulate the physical lab
experience.
– They also need to be interactive, and keep the student
active.
– Students should be able to conduct the experiments
with no assistance.
– The experience should be fun and memorable.
– The virtual lab can be run on a laptop (i.e., no need for
specialty virtual reality equipment)
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Impact
The modules were developed to run on a PC
(or laptop) with basic graphic capabilities,
as our focus was on impacting the largest
number of students at our institute,
around the country, and around the globe.
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Reaching
students at
all levels
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X-Ray Diffraction Lab
Purpose:
• To run an X-ray diffraction experiment.
• Apply knowledge about Miller indices,
Bragg’s law, and lattice/crystal structure to a
real-life application.
Click here to go to part I
• Note: You must complete part I of the X-ray
lab prior to running the experiment
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Operating Procedure of the X-ray virtual lab
We use CuKα radiation (wavelength 1.54 Å)
To start, click here: X-ray lab a dialog box will open
Fill out information:
Your name(s) and choose
a sample (number
between 1 and 6).
You can open a context
help window with ctrl-h
anywhere in the lab.
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Put on the radiation badge
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Experiments Inspired by Game-Design
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Click on the specimen button
Open the door to the
x-ray diffractometer,
insert the sample and
close the door.
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Select the X-Ray tab
• Turn the key to the on position and
wait a few seconds before flipping
the “X-RAYS ON” switch. The XRAY ON indicator light stays on as
long as the x-ray tube is energized.
Wait for the indicator to show 25KV.
• You can turn the KV up to about 40
and the mA up to 30.
• Higher power settings give better
signal to noise values.
• mA should not exceed the overload
set point of 40, and the product of
KV and mA should not exceed the
overload set point of 1.7 kVA.
Doing so will shut down the X-ray
generator immediately.
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Select the Scan tab
Fill in the Scan parameters (2-q
range), step size and dwell time.
Press Scan.
The shutter opens automatically at the start of
the scan. You can Export the data to Excel by right
clicking the plot.
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Experiments Inspired by Game-Design
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Simulted B19 phase of NiTiCu shape memory
alloy
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40
60
80
100
Sample of Results
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X-ray diffraction simulated pattern of the B19 phase of
NiTiCu shape memory alloy.
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Include in your report
•
•
•
•
Equation for x-ray diffraction
Wavelength and other parameters used
The excel graph (with the {khl} identified)
Information of the samples used
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Measure of Success (Initial
Assessment)
• We test the students before and after they run
the lab, and compare “Treatment Group” to a
comparison group.
• For the Brass Lab, the treatment group
performed better on the post-lab test than the
comparison group.
• For the X-ray lab, the treatment group showed
gains from the pre-lab test to the post-lab test
while the comparison group did not.
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Groups reached… so far
We have reached a very large number of individuals:
 Within our university and at Louisiana State University
 At community colleges (e.g. Muskegon, MI)
 At middle and high schools (currently at a 50 mile radius)
 Wide dissemination of modules to many other institutions
nationally and internationally (we receive requests via
email). For example: Al-Farabi Kazakh National University,
Kazakhstan; Texas State Technical Center Waco, Texas;
Bristol CC, MA; Universidad Nacional de Colombia; Highers
Colleges of Technology, UAE; Tafresh University, Iran; Risø,
Denmark.
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Experiments Inspired by Game-Design
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Conclusions
 Virtual Lab:
o Saves time and resources
o Requires less effort
Simulation by Emiliya Ikonomova
 Beneficial because:
o A mistake made in this Virtual Lab costs nothing
o It is effective – reaches a large number of
students
o Reduces dependency on instructors (It allows
the student to independently learn and follow
through the steps of an activity)
o Promotes learning
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What Next?
Scanning Electron Microscope
This essential characterization tool was already
requested by several groups around the World.
All our developed modules are available at no
cost at:
http://www.wmich.edu/mae/research_labs/vms_lab/
Click on the “Downloads” button.
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Acknowledgements
Many other people contributed to this project at our
campus, around the US, and abroad. They include:
At WMU: Richard M. Wood, Instruction Specialist for the
"Real Experiments" Videos; Abraham Barouch, Virtual
Laboratory Learning Experience Assessment; John
Mackenzie, Photographer and Producer of Videos; and
students Shabnam Abdolrahmani, Ahmad Ashraf Ahmad
Mahir, Noor Aishah Ahmad Fuad, and Peter Holvestat.
At LSU: Marwa Hassan.
In Brazil: Luis Fernando Soares
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Thank you for your
kind attention
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