Methodical aspects of application of visual aids when teaching the «Kinematic Analysis» module to engineering students

Abstract

Structural mechanics is one of fundamental disciplines in training future specialists. Laws of mechanics are often complex for students because to understand them they need to have the preliminary mathematical background and the spatial imagination. It is often difficult for students to understand the physical nature of deformation processes looking only at drawings and theoretical calculations that they see and perform on paper or the university board. The integration of traditional teaching methods and innovative visual aids into the educational process can help students to understand the material more easily and to learn it more effectively. This paper examines some methodical aspects of the practical effectiveness of application of such visual aids as construction sets in «Structural Mechanics» classes at higher education institutionswhen teaching the «Kinematic Analysis» module to students studying in civil engineering. Construction sets can be considered as visual aids for modeling that can be useful students and instructors. Models assembled from construction sets can help the instructor:demonstrate methods of connecting disks using simple examples directly within the classroom; explain why the specific number of connecting devices is the minimum requirement for connecting the certain number of disks; explain why specific links arrangements cause the system to become instantaneously unstable; explain the relationship between real and virtual hinges; explain interconnections between disk connection methods when representing certain elements of the analytical model as others. Learning the kinematic analysis within the structural mechanics with application of construction sets can help students: to improve the spatial imagination; to understand how various connecting devices work in the analytical model; to understand methods of connecting discs and joints and their interconnections among themselves; to transform schemes from paper drawings into visual models; to promote the understanding principles of combining various elements into the complex construction structure.