Improving Teaching in Engineering Mechanics with Augmented Reality: Concept and Implementation of an E-Learning Application

Engineering mechanics is a basic subject of many engineering study programmes. It teaches the systemic approach to describe and calculate a mechanical system in an abstract fashion. However, the process of abstraction itself plays a rather subordinate role. For a signifi cant number of students, the systemic way of thinking in engineering mechanics is diffi cult to grasp. This paper is trying to address this issue by conceptualising an augmented reality e-learning application for smartphones and then putting it to practise via the game engine Unity and the framework ARFoundation. The application off ers students a low-threshold and interactive entry into the subject fi elds ‘trusses’ and ‘stress resultants’. Initially, the user creates a two-dimensional static model from given components. Afterwards, there are two diff erent ways of calculation: On the one hand, a real-time calculation within the game engine and, on the other hand, an external calculation using the structural analysis software SOFiSTiK and an API provided by a parallel research project. The preceding concept includes a problem analysis where the structural and content-related challenges of teaching engineering mechanics are discussed. Afterwards, fi ndings from expert interviews with students, teachers, tutors and e-learning experts are used to develop the application scenarios. The application aims to overcome the rigid boundaries between the reality and abstraction level in engineering mechanics. A fi rst evaluation of the application showed that augmented reality is suitable for the representation and working on questions of engineering mechanics in a real environment. The prerequisites for its widespread use are given, since the application only requires an augmented reality-capable smartphone and an Internet connection