2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

RITEL: The Development of Manufacturing Knowledge and Learning Skills through an Educational Simulation

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session I

This study investigates the impact of a simulation-based educational game on undergraduate engineering students’ knowledge and metacognitive problem-solving skills. The game presents learners with a realistic manufacturing environment in which they must meet customer demand, balance production capacity, and maximize profit for a simulated water bottle-filling company. Participants completed pre- and post-assessments measuring content knowledge, self-regulated learning (SRL) skills, usability, situational interest, and in-game performance.

Results from this initial implementation highlight differences in knowledge outcomes, perceptions of usability, early-game performance, and player characteristics across situational interest levels. Findings also reveal limitations related to knowledge assessment difficulty and participant characteristics, which inform future design iterations. Overall, the results support the potential of simulation-based manufacturing games to provide engaging, authentic learning experiences while emphasizing the need for adaptive scaffolding and increasingly complex problem scenarios to better align motivation and learning outcomes for STEM students. This research is funded through NSF Research for Innovative Technologies for Enhanced Learning (RITEL).

Authors

Daniell DiFrancesca Pennsylvania State University, Behrend College [biography]

Dr. Daniell DiFrancesca earned her Ph.D. in educational psychology from North Carolina State University in 2015. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at Penn State Behrend. Dr. DiFrancesca's research interests focus on developing self-regulation in learning with a focus on designing and evaluating classroom-based interventions. Additionally, Dr. DiFrancesca has worked as an evaluator for university programs and community initiatives.
Dr. Omar Ashour http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3775-6445 Pennsylvania State University, Behrend College [biography]

Dr. Omar Ashour is a Professor of Industrial Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, The Behrend College. He is the Associate Director for Research in the School of Engineering. Dr. Ashour received the B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering/Manufacturing Engineering and the M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in 2005 and 2007, respectively. He received his M.Eng. degree in Industrial Engineering/Human Factors and Ergonomics and a Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from The Pennsylvania State University (PSU) in 2010 and 2012, respectively. Dr. Ashour was the inaugural recipient of William and Wendy Korb Early Career Professorship in Industrial Engineering in 2016. Dr. Ashour’s research areas include data-driven decision-making, modeling and simulation, data analytics, immersive technologies, and process improvement. He contributed to research directed to improve design and engineering education.
Alexandra Michelle Caldwell Pennsylvania State University, Behrend College
Christian Enmanuel Lopez http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2801-4618 Lafayette College [biography]

I am an Assistant Professor of Computer Science with an affiliation in Mechanical Engineering at Lafayette College.

I completed my Ph.D. from the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at the Pennsylvania State Un
Dr. Conrad Tucker Carnegie Mellon University [biography]

Conrad Tucker is a professor of mechanical engineering. He focuses on the design and optimization of systems through the acquisition, integration, and mining of large scale, disparate data.
Aidan John Mathieu

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