Sheperdson (1999) notes that the goal of engineeringeducation is
not to produce students who can recite formulas, but designers who can mobilize physics and engineering concepts in the creative solution of design problems. DreamHaus is an interactive media piece and design tool that can be used within constructivist pedagogical frameworks. The design component of DreamHaus allows learners to analyze, understand, and create engineering artifacts not as abstract entities, but as enacted systems, allowing them to develop systems-level understanding of engineering phenomena.

Pedagogically, DreamHaus specifically addresses findings in cognitive science research highlighting that students:

• In traditional learning environments fail to develop intuitive understandings of scientific concepts.
• Retain naïve understandings of physical and engineering phenomena.
• Can overcome such alternative conceptions of physical through the design and modeling of 3D worlds.
• Can build deeper understandings of phenomena by accessing information via multiple channels and representing multiple modes of understanding.

DreamHaus strives to give players qualitative understandings of physics phenomena (Forbus, 2001). This game gives players opportunities to:

• Develop intuitive understandings of physics and engineering concepts and principles.
• Identify how physics and engineering concepts and principles are used in buildings of architectural significance.
• Develop and apply understandings of physics and engineering concepts and principles through the design of architecture.
• Express themselves creatively through the design.
• Critique and evaluate the scientific quality of one another's designs.

Each task is designed to elicit a performance of understanding-not merely a cue to recognize formulas and concepts. Players will be presented with animations of each concept and graphical displays of phenomena embodying each concept. Design tasks demand that they mobilize these concepts in the design of buildings.

Assessments

DreamHaus employs a variety of assessment techniques. First, the game engine records:

• Puzzles attempted,
• Puzzle completion success rate
• Time Spent per puzzle
• Common mistakes in completing the puzzle (The game identifies several known failure states for each level and records them for future analysis).

Second, students' learning is assessed in the design space, as the CAD software tests students' understanding. For each level, the software records:

• Time per design challenge
• Attempts per design challenge
• Money Spent per completed
• Amount of Materials used per design challenge
• Structural Stability of design (average of all parts)

Finally, the community structure offers unique opportunities for assessments. The DreamHaus website allows users to vote on their designs, create hotlists' of designers they like, see who is on one another's hotlists, and critique other designs online. This space provides valuable feedback on student work, critiquing opportunities, and opportunities for students to have instructors or community members give feedback on their work.

Copyright 2002, MIT.