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Description
In the Mechanical Engineering department of San Diego State University (SDSU) required a unique practice tool that provides the students a valid interactive simulation of the Material Science lab. Dr. Khaled Morsi, professor at Mechanical Engineering department of SDSU, uses the following interactive simulations for Material Science lab: Tensile Testing, Impact Testing, and Lattice Voyage. My research involves the Material Science lab to develop Lattice Voyage using XNA framework to enable students to improve their understanding of the crystallography in a fun manner. My research involves the development of a 3-dimensional model to represent the room, EL 105b, designated for crystallography in the Mechanical Engineering department lab building, which is called "cell". In a 3-dimensional space, the simulation displays the act of a student entering the lab. The simulation starts when the 3-dimensional representation of the student avatar enters the virtual lab. Now, the avatar is trapped in the cell. The student is provided with the quizzes on the following: Finding the origin of a lattice structure, determining the lattice coordinates of atoms and crystallographic planes in the lattice structure, determining the crystallographic directions, and identifying impurities in the lattice structure. When the student correctly answers these quizzes, the avatar can escape from the cell in the simulation. The simulation records the number of attempts and retries the student takes to complete the simulation. This information can be used by professor for grading purposes. XNA Game Studio provides a flexible platform to play the interactive simulation and test the student understanding of the subject matter as well. The 3-dimensional simulation, Lattice Voyage, is developed using XNA Game Studio 3.1, which uses the XNA game framework.
