The Constantly Evolving Freshman Engineering Course: The Case of the DualShock4 Game Controller to Increase Engagement with Laboratory Exercises for an Introductory Problem Solving Course

Universities are now seeing the post-Millennial generation enrolling in freshman engineering courses. These outcome-oriented students engage with the course topics if they can see how the skills being developed can be used outside the classroom. To this end, the authors substituted a contemporary game controller, a PlayStation4 DualShock4 (DS4), for a microcontroller with sensors (Arduino Esplora) that was used in the freshman laboratory exercises to enhance the connection to the “real world” and increase engagement with the course concepts. Using laboratory scores from two consecutive fall semesters at a large, Midwestern university, the authors found the substitution of the DS4 for the Esplora had a significant positive effect on the total scores for the entire semester, as well as positive significant effect on the formalized lab reports.