Understanding Wave Mechanics in Engineering Education. Linking Theory and Practice through Experiments and Computer Visualisations

It is widely acknowledged that students are struggling when trying to bridge everyday experience and theoretical abstractions. Wave mechanics and wave modelling represent no exception. This paper deals with findings in a project set up to improve the quality of learning in a marine hydrodynamics and ocean environment course at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). As a first step, on entering the course, students were exposed to a laboratory demonstration focusing on the nature of waves as presented in a wave flume. Students were subsequently taught the theory of wave mechanics in a regular class along with exercises. Finally, the computer algebra system Maple was used to animate physical properties of the waves using the mathematical equations. Both the experiments and the animations were meant to help in the understanding of the dynamics of particular wave phenomena. An end-term survey confirmed that the students were happy about the laboratory demonstrations and the computer assisted visualisations, especially as a source of motivation. However, despite all the efforts, the average grade at the exam did not improve compared to previous years. The major lesson to be learned is that to promote in-depth learning, students need meaningful interactive courseware integrated into their learning processes, not only as motivating tools in addition to traditional teaching.