Engineering Education:
Recent Research & Development Reports

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Educational Research Report:
Computer Simulation as a Tool for Developing Intuitive and Conceptual Understanding

This report was prepared at University of Goteborg, Department of Education and Educational Research (Sweden). The following is the preamble of this report. Hard copy of the full report may be obtained from Department of Education and Educational Research, Gothenburg University, P.O.Box 1010, S-431 26 MOLNDAL, Sweden.

Forward:

In order to collect information about relevant issues a number of studies were initiated by the Commission. One area of interest was the use of computers for learning and teaching in higher education. An application to investigate this area was submitted to the Commission from Chalmers University of Technology and the Department of Education and Educational Research, University of Goteborg. After the approval of the application the project started January 1, 1990. It was understood that a report would be delivered to the Commission by August 15, 19~1 at the latest. In accordance with this we now present our report.

One of the points of departure for our work has been the thesis - self-evident as it may seem- that when examining learning and its computer assistance we have to address two basic issues: "What particular learning outcomes are we aiming at?", and what particular use of computers can be expected to be helpful in contributing to those outcomes?" The first question is super-ordinate to the second one and is of course not specific for the field of computer assisted learning. This project originates from two assumptions that are related to these two questions. Firstly, we believe that there are certain learning outcomes which are more fundamental but less attended to than others. Secondly, we believe that there are certain ways of using computers which provide learning activities that are uniquely capable of bringing about those outcomes.

This implies that far from dealing with the potential of computers for the enhancement of learning in higher education in general, we are interested in achieving specific aims that are rarely addressed and do this by using computers for creating conditions that cannot easily (or cannot possibly) be created in any other way.

As far as the empirical parts of our study are concerned, some comments have to be made. Although we were clear about the fact that we could not possibly be able to make full use of the data we would collect for the report to be delivered by August 1~91, we carried out a large number of individual interviews, direct observations, and video recordings. We have thus used very time-consuming methods for collecting more data than we have been able to analyse fully, prior to writing this report. There were two reasons for this seemingly irresponsible way of acting. Firstly, and most importantly, we believe that the phenomena of interest are not independent of the way we are examining them. We do not have a free choice of method; less time consuming methods for collecting and analysing data may not have made the phenomena of interest visible at all. Secondly, we are continuing our project with a more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the data collected for another year with financial support from the Swedish National Board of Higher Education. The present report therefore gives a somewhat sketchy and fragmentary account of what we believe to be a key issue in optimising the value of computers in higher education, rather than a fuller account of something ultimately less useful.

This has been - and continues to be - a genuinely cooperative enterprise. The mechanics part of the project originated from an idea of Arne Kihlberg of the Department of Theoretical Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, to introduce the use of the program "Phase Portrait" as a part of the course in mechanics which is taught by him. Arne Kihlberg has developed the problems used for the computer simulation sessions, as well as the questions used in the interviews before and after the experiment. He has participated in the analysis of the interview protocols and written part of the section on the relevant concepts in mechanics in this report. Hugo Wikstrom of the Department of Education and Educational Research has conducted the interviews in mechanics and contributed to the analysis of them. The electrical circuits part of the project builds on the idea of using the CU-SPIN program, developed at Comell University, for teaching purposes. The idea was advanced by Peter Linner of the Division of Network Theory, and Roland Malven of the Department of Applied Electronics, Chalmers University of Technology. They have also developed the problems for the computer sessions as well as the interview questions. They have participated in the analysis of the interview transcripts and written the section on the relevant concepts. The interviews in electrical circuits were conducted by Christina Karrqvist of the Department of Teacher Education, Didactics. She has also participated in the analysis of the interview transcripts.

Christer Alvegard and Roger Johansson of Chalmers University of Technology have been instrumental in bringing about this project and they have actively participated in the discussions about overarching questions concerning this project.

In addition to the grant received from the Ministry of Education through the Higher Education Commission, this research has been financially supported by the Swedish National Board of Higher Education and Chalmers University of Technology.

Development Report:
Computer Simulation in Power Systems Education

The size and complexity of real-life problems in the power industry has motivated power systems engineers to develop a wide range of sophisticated digital computer software. Computers are now playing an indispensable role in planing, operation and control of electric power utilities worldwide. The availability of modern computers and widespread usage of the MS-DOS platform in tertiary education have recently opened an entirely new concept in teaching/learning practices in technological disciplines. Application of digital computers in power engineering education, therefore, is no longer considered as another fancy extra as it was during the last two decades.

A computer simulation-based teaching/learning method for a sessional elective and a graduate course in Power Systems was introduced at Wollongong University in 1993. This aimed to help students to fit into today's highly advanced power systems industry while giving them motivation and confidence. In brief, the following three main thrusts constitute the cornerstone of the suggested teaching/learning method;

• giving top priority to demonstrating relevance of the subject to skills needed for tackling problems much closer to those encountered by industry professionals,
• giving high priority to using computers in every stage of learning process, and
• providing an interactive learning environment in which students can clear up ambiguities through open tutorial discussions along with practicing self-study and team work.

It was found that carefully designed supplementary lecture material along with specially tailored simulation tasks were needed to fully implement a computer simulation oriented teaching/learning method. In this regard, this handout was prepared in an attempt to make the best use of the textbook and its computer programs. This has been done by complete reorganization of textbook's short and scattered problems and inclusion of extra items to further promote the concept of direct computer utilization in the students' learning process. Contributions of other power systems educators who also use this textbook are also included to illustrate a few more realistic examples ( J Glover and L Dow: Student design projects in power engineering, IEEE Trans, PWRS-5, No-4, Nov. 1990 ).

A handout was prepared that contains tutorial problems and assignments for undergraduates and some small planning and design projects for postgraduate courses. Special attention was focused on running the simulation program under different operating conditions and compiling a short report which often include some results on disk. Graduate students are required to investigate more complicated practical situations. Some augmented versions of this collection are to be adopted for our graduate " composite laboratory " subject that includes a power simulation laboratory. Undergraduate students are receiving a copy of the whole collection so that they get an idea of the types of advanced studies which can be handled by computer simulations.

A set of ``Short Descriptive Questions'' was also included to the handout. These questions were designed to address major concepts, techniques, tools, and terminologies in modern power systems. This has given students extra information needed for report preparation where they are required to interpret simulation results and to exercise fundamental engineering judgment. These questions are discussed during some tutorial classes in which the tutor conducts an open discussion on topics related to the most recent lesson(s).

This handout will be subjected to an ongoing revision. Adoption of some realistic problems for the Australian 50Hz network and the inclusion of more small design and planning tasks for undergraduate students are planned to be incorporated in the next edition. Moreover, some of the tasks included have not been fully tested yet. Comments and suggestions are made for the correction and improvement of this supplementary teaching material are highly appreciated.

A postscript version of tasks included in the handout is available in this site. This include an undergraduate level Tutorial/Assignment Tasks (Small Projects) and a postgraduate level Design/Analysis/planning Projects. A hard copy of the handout can also be obtained by contacting the author.

Also available a postscript version of a conference paper presented at IPEEC'95 (Singapore).