Teaching Dilemma Zone Protection With Simulation-based 3D Game
Qichao Wang
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA, USA
qichao@vt.edu
Montasir Abbas
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA, USA
abbas@vt.edu
Lisa McNair
Department of Engineering Education
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA, USA
lmcnair@vt.edu
Abstract
Dilemma zone is a region where drivers can hardly choose whether to stop or continue at the onset of
yellow. One of the most commonly used dilemma zone protection system is the green extension system.
The essence of this system is to extend the green when there are vehicles in dilemma zone. There are several
concepts about dilemma zone and dilemma zone protection system. Without real-world experience, it is
difficult for students to understand and memorize the concepts. It was found that the educational game can
stimulate the student and improvement the teaching efficiency. Previous work (Kasaraneni et al. 2009)
designed a game prototype using offline simulation data from a microscopic simulation software to illustrate
the dilemma zone protection concepts. They found that the students want a more visual appealing game.
A simulation-based 3D game was designed to improve the teaching efficiency for the dilemma zone
protection concept. The game can simulate traffic operation scenarios and collect users’ gameplay data
using refined 3D scenes. Vivid scenes attract students and multi-level design increases the appeal of the
game and thus can stimulate students. Gameplay data collected from users can monitor students’ responses
and gather their understanding of the delivered knowledge.
An experiment was conducted to prove the effect of the game. 40 students contributed 608 game play
observations with before and after quizzes scores for each of the students. The matched pairs t-test
conducted in JMP showed a mean difference of 0.95 at 0.0051 significant level for the scores change, which
indicated the game improved the students learning output significantly. Further analysis shows the “A level
students” or the students with weaker understanding of the targeting concepts have more potential to benefit
from the game.
REFERENCES
Kasaraneni, Y., Abbas, M. M., & McNair, L. (2009). Web-Based Game to Improve Learning of Driver
Behavior and Control at Signalized Intersections. In Transportation Research Board 88th Annual
Meeting (No. 09-2266).