Thesis
Evaluating the effectiveness of dynamic traffic simulations: A case study in transportation engineering education
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
2011
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/100087
Abstract
Development of learning tools is critical for improving engineering education and learning difficult engineering concepts. When faced with authentic engineering problems experts rely on transferable understandings of concepts while students are constrained to preconceptions which do not translate to all contexts. Representations are learning tools commonly used by students to help organize thoughts in a meaningful way. Good representations help the user by providing insight to a concept or problem through explicit cues. Researchers at the University of Idaho have put together structured activities involving animation representations of traffic simulations designed as part of the Mobile Signal Timing Training (MOST) for teaching traffic signal timing. In this study the effectiveness of these MOST animations was evaluated through a pre-post-comparative case study. Overall, the MOST animations were successful in improving students’ understandings of timing parameters involved in actuated control at signalized intersections. More specifically, students understood the respective roles of minimum green time, passage time, and maximum green time in the signal timing process as well as the proper duration of the green indication. The change in understandings from pre-to-post interviews were linked to the MOST animations through observations and reflective surveys. Students also showed improved understandings of the relationship between cycle length and delay, but this change could not be attributed to the MOST animations. Additionally, misconceptions and areas of conceptual difficulty were investigated through the inclusion of students from other universities enrolled in courses where the same concepts were presented using other methods. Students who were not extensively exposed to the MOST activities had difficulty understanding how the maximum green timer works as well as the purpose of the minimum green time. This indicates that animation representations are effective in improving students’ understandings of concepts involving dynamic processes or reactions.
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Details
- Title
- Evaluating the effectiveness of dynamic traffic simulations
- Creators
- Chelsea Ann Nicholas
- Contributors
- Shane Brown (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900525096101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis