Game-Aided Pedagogy to Improve Students’ Learning Outcomes and Engagement in Transportation Engineering

Abstract

The objective of the FHWA EAR is to "research and develop projects that could lead to transformational changes and truly revolutionary advances in highway engineering and intermodal surface transportation in the United States." The award funded multidisciplinary research that utilizes traffic simulation and advanced artificial intelligence techniques. He has also conducted research for the National Cooperative Highway Research Program on developing "Traffic Control Strategies for Oversaturated conditions" and for the Virginia Transportation Research Council on "evaluation and recommendations for next generation control in Northern Virginia." Dr. Abbas developed Purdue Real-Time Offset Transitioning Algorithm for Coordinating Traffic Signals (PRO-TRACTS) during his Ph.D. studies at Purdue University, bridging the gap between adaptive control systems and closed-loop systems. He has since developed and implemented several algorithms and systems in his areas of interest, including the Platoon Identification and Accommodation system (PIA), the Pattern Identification Logic for Offset Tuning (PILOT 05), the Supervisory Control Intelligent Adaptive Module (SCIAM), the Cabinet-in-the-loop (CabITL) simulation platform, the Intelligent Multi Objective Control Algorithms (I-MOCA), the Traffic Responsive Iterative Urban-Control Model for Patternmatching and Hypercube Optimal Parameters Setup (TRIUMPH OPS), the Multi Attribute Decisionmaking Optimizer for Next-generation Network-upgrade and Assessment (MADONNA), and the Safety and Mobility Agent-based Reinforcement-learning Traffic Simulation Add-on Module (SMART SAM). He was also one of the key developers of the dilemma zone protection Detection Control System (D-CS) that was selected as one of the seven top research innovations and findings in the state of Texas for the year 2002. Dr. Abbas served as the chair of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) traffic engineering council committee on "survey of the state of the practice on traffic responsive plan selection control." He is also a member of the Transportation Research Board (TRB) Traffic Signal Systems committee, Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Computing Applications committee, and the joint subcommittee on Intersection. In addition, he is currently a chair on a task group on Agent-based modeling and simulation as part of the TRB SimSub committee. He also serves as a CEE faculty senator at Virginia Tech.

Transportation Curriculum with Culturally Responsive Teaching: Lessons Learned from Pre-Service Teachers and Future Transportation Workforce

“…Transportation is a topic that can relate to people’s cultures. It is an inseparable aspect of society that exhibits a very close relation to an individual’s style of life and activities ( 25 ), as transportation engineering includes active and interconnected complex subsystems such as drivers, vehicles, roads, behaviors, and rules ( 26 ). Acknowledging the complex relationships among decision-making factors in transportation activities, numerous research has introduced engineering education strategies to support basic learning.…”

“…For example, Abbas and McNair designed a game-aided pedagogy to improve students’ learning outcomes and engagement in transportation engineering for introductory transportation engineering courses. Their learning modules support students’ design in signal timing, car-following model, road geometry design, route choice, traffic volume prediction, and pavement design ( 26 ).…”

An Artificial Intelligence-Based Vehicular System Simulator

“…The creative instructional activities also provided students with hands-on experience of simulated real world scenarios. The game system discussed in Kasaraneni (2009) was further developed in Abbas & McNair (2014) with the objective of investigating game-aided pedagogy for improving engagement and learning outcomes of students in transportation engineering. The enhanced game system consists of three layers: (1) a web-based user interface to display simulated traffic flows, (2) a game control layer to implement logic controls based on the game context and user commands, and (3) a data source layer, which consists of the two databases of traffic snapshots and traffic scenarios.…”