Constructionist Microworld for Engineering Education: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis of ARPAID’s Usability, User Experience, and Learning Impact in Mechanical Assembly Learning

Teaching engineering drawing and understanding mechanical assemblies involve challenges related to spatial visualisation and part interaction. ARPAID, a 3D mi-croworld grounded in Seymour Papert’s constructionism, was developed to address these issues. This study explores students’ perceptions of ARPAID, focusing on its strengths, weaknesses, areas for improvement in interface and pedagogical functional-ities, and its effectiveness as a constructionist learning environment.
A qualitative Codebook Thematic Analysis was conducted on semi-structured video interviews with 21 first-year engineering students at a Spanish university during the 2020–21 academic year. Participants represented Aerospace, Electronic and Electrical Engineering programmes. Data were systematically coded, reviewed and refined.
Seven themes emerged: perceptual and graphical experience, interface design, usabil-ity and interaction, educational value, improvements, theoretical implications, and emotional and attitudinal value. Recurring patterns in participants’ accounts revealed clear strengths and weaknesses, alongside specific design and instructional aspects requiring refinement. Students’ reflections also showed strong alignment with core constructionist principles, including learning by making and objects to think with.
Overall, ARPAID is perceived as a valuable educational tool for learning mechanical assemblies. The findings support its validity as a constructionist microworld and pro-vide actionable directions for improving usability, interface design, and pedagogical effectiveness in future developments.