Abstract
Problem Based Learning (PBL) is important for engineering education and has been a tool for creative engineering design. It can enhance creativity and has been used to successfully carry out many experiments in the real world. Researchers in the US and Japan (the authors) are pursuing studies to determine the effectiveness of its use in a virtual environment, one with cutting-edge technology and opportunities for complementary activities between face to face learning and electronic learning. Here students can work from anywhere in the world, at any time, and at their own pace. For this project, student teams from the US and Japan were asked to solve problems in a virtual community. Each team worked independently on a different project. The US team designed and built a car for the future, while the Japan team focused on designing a safe way for using nuclear energy. A discussion about the US team’s successful project is provided.
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References
Barry, D.M., Kanematsu, H., Fukumura, Y.: Problem Based Learning in Metaverse (ED 512315), Education Resources Information Center, U.S (2010)
Barry, D.M., Kanematsu, H., Fukumura, Y., Ogawa, N., Okuda, A., Taguchi, R., Nagai, H.: International Comparison for Problem Based Learning in Metaverse. In: Proceedings of the ICEE and ICEER 2009 Korea (International Conference on Engineering Education and Research), Seoul, Korea, pp. 59–65 (2009)
Kanematsu, H., Fukumura, Y., Barry, D.M., Sohn, S.Y., Taguchi, R., Farjami, S.: Virtual Classroom Environment for MultiLingual Problem Based Learning with US, Korean, and Japanese Students. In: Proceedings of 2010 JSEE Annual Conference, Tohoku, Japan (August 2010)
Kanematsu, H., Fukumura, Y., Ogawa, N., Okuda, A., Taguchi, R., Nagai, H.: Practice and Evaluation of Problem Based Learning in Metaverse. In: ED- MEDIA 2009 (World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Tele-communications), pp. 2862–2870. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, Honolulu (2009)
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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Barry, D.M., Kanematsu, H., Fukumura, Y., Kobayashi, T., Ogawa, N., Nagai, H. (2012). Problem Based Learning for US and Japan Students in a Virtual Environment. In: Watanabe, T., Watada, J., Takahashi, N., Howlett, R., Jain, L. (eds) Intelligent Interactive Multimedia: Systems and Services. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 14. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29934-6_46
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29934-6_46
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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