SIMULATION TOOLS FOR THE ACQUISITION OF COMPETENCIES IN AEROSPACE ENGINEERING STUDIES

This communication presents the results of an educational innovation project aimed at introducing the use of virtual reality (VR) flight simulators in different Aerospace Engineering courses. Practical experience is a very useful tool to facilitate the acquisition of skills that must be included in any teaching-learning experience. However, taking into account that experiencing real flight in any university course is almost impossible to afford, the implementation of an active teaching methodology will be studied by making use of VR flight simulators as a cost-effective alternative. On the other hand, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of those tools in the learning process of the students and how to obtain their maximum performance to succeed in the learning goals.To answer these questions, we have developed a study in order:(1) to design an active methodology which uses VR flight simulators; (2) to design the procedure to improve the student follow up; and (3) to determine the suitability of a procedure to evaluate the results of the experience and determine whether there is an improvement in the acquisition of skills or not.By means of a qualitative research method ―based on establishing two control groups accordingly they used or not the VR flight simulator― we have concluded that students were really satisfied with the experience, which helped them to improve their knowledge in the considered aerospace topics. However, distraction due to the recreational use of the simulator prevented them to focus all the attention on the engineering technical analysis of the simulated flights.