Art and Medicine: A Collaborative Project Between Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar and Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar

Four faculty researchers, two from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, and two from Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar developed a one semester workshop-based course in Qatar exploring the connections between art and medicine in a contemporary context. Students (6 art / 6 medicine) were enrolled in the course. The course included presentations by clinicians, medical engineers, artists, computing engineers, an art historian, a graphic designer, a painter, and other experts from the fields of art, design, and medicine. To measure the student experience of interdisciplinarity, the faculty researchers employed a mixed methods approach involving psychometric tests and observational ethnography. Data instruments included pre- and post-course semi-structured audio interviews, pre-test / post-test psychometric instruments (Budner Scale and Torrance Tests of Creativity), observational field notes, self-reflective blogging, and videography. This book describes the course and the experience of the students. It also contains images of the interdisciplinary work they created for a culminating class exhibition. Finally, the book provides insight on how different fields in a Middle Eastern context can share critical /analytical thinking tools to refine their own professional practices

From Automation Joy to Perseverance in Engineering: How Parents Conceptualize the Impact of Robotics on Their Children

The question guiding this research was, in what ways do parents perceive the impact of robotics in advancing their children’s interest in knowledge of and learning about science and engineering. This case study draws on communities of practice and activity theory to explore the lenses through which parents conceptualize the attributes of robotics towards increasing their children’s preparation and interest for engineering. The study revealed that parents perceive the acquisition of pertinent knowledge and skills as outcomes of interdisciplinary and authentic learning opportunities generated through series of goal directed activities. In addition, it was found that parents viewed beneficial characteristics of robotics across a wide range, from individual to collaborative learning; from acquisition of automation skills to immersion in multi-media projects; and from hands-on manipulation of raw materials to contentious discussions regarding optimal designs. In closing, the article situates the parents’ insights within recommendations garnered from some leading reports focused on strategies and conduits for broadening participation in science and engineering

Choreographic and Somatic Approaches for the Development of Expressive Robotic Systems

As robotic systems are moved out of factory work cells into human-facing environments questions of choreography become central to their design, placement, and application. With a human viewer or counterpart present, a system will automatically be interpreted within context, style of movement, and form factor by human beings as animate elements of their environment. The interpretation by this human counterpart is critical to the success of the system's integration: knobs on the system need to make sense to a human counterpart; an artificial agent should have a way of notifying a human counterpart of a change in system state, possibly through motion profiles; and the motion of a human counterpart may have important contextual clues for task completion. Thus, professional choreographers, dance practitioners, and movement analysts are critical to research in robotics. They have design methods for movement that align with human audience perception, can identify simplified features of movement for human-robot interaction goals, and have detailed knowledge of the capacity of human movement. This article provides approaches employed by one research lab, specific impacts on technical and artistic projects within, and principles that may guide future such work. The background section reports on choreography, somatic perspectives, improvisation, the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System, and robotics. From this context methods including embodied exercises, writing prompts, and community building activities have been developed to facilitate interdisciplinary research. The results of this work is presented as an overview of a smattering of projects in areas like high-level motion planning, software development for rapid prototyping of movement, artistic output, and user studies that help understand how people interpret movement. Finally, guiding principles for other groups to adopt are posited.Comment: Under review at MDPI Arts Special Issue "The Machine as Artist (for the 21st Century)" http://www.mdpi.com/journal/arts/special_issues/Machine_Artis

Learning for the Future: Changing the Culture of Math and Science Education to Ensure a Competitive Workforce

This report argues that improving the math and science skills of our nation's youth is an important step in ensuring and promoting innovation-led economic growth in the coming decades. The report calls for the implementation of a strategic plan that will increase student "demand" for and achievement in mathematics and science

The Use of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics -Related Films as a Tool to Introduce the Middle School Students to Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

تساهم الأفلام القائمة على الذكاء الاصطناعي والروبوتات بشكل كبير في صناعة الأفلام، ومن الواضح أن أعدادها متناسبة مع أعمال السينما التي زادت بسرعة خلال العقد الماضي. وقد لوحظت هذه النسب المتزايدة منها بسبب التطور غير المسبوق في مفاهيم ومشاريع الذكاء الاصطناعي وتكنولوجيا الروبوتات التي اجتذبت طيفًا واسعًا من فئة المجتمعات. لذلك، يهدف هذا البحث إلى التحقق من تأثير هذا النوع من الأفلام على مجموعة من طلاب المرحلة الإعدادية. تم إعداد المنهجية المقترحة لهذه الدراسة لقياس الجوانب المختلفة لطلاب المرحلة الإعدادية على النحو التالي: (1) إدخال مثل هذه الموضوعات التكنولوجية و (2) زيادة مهارات الإبداع والتخيل. تم إجراء استبيان لتقييم الأثر على طلاب المدارس الإعدادية قبل وبعد مشاهدة مقاطع فيلم محددة مسبقًا تتعلق بالذكاء الاصطناعي والروبوتات. أظهرت نتائج الاستبيان أن مثل هذا النوع من الأفلام له آثار إيجابية أولية على دوافع الطلاب وإلهامهم وإبداعهم.Artificial intelligence and robotics-based films contribute significantly to the films industry, it is evidenced that it is proportion as part of the film business was increased rapidly during last decade. This was observed due to the increases in the artificial intelligence and robotics technology which have been attracting wide spectrum of the communities’ category. Therefore, this paper aim to investigate the impact of this type of films on the middle school students’ group. The proposed methodology of this study is made to measure various aspects for the middle school students as follows: (1) Introducing such technological topics and (2) Increasing the creativity and imagination skills. A survey to evaluate the impact on middle school students was conducted that consists of a list questionnaire before and after watching a pre-selected film clips related to artificial intelligence and robotics. It was evidenced that such as films type have initial positive effects on the students’ motivations, inspiration and creativity

Robotics as a Means of Increasing Student Achievement in Middle School Science

This study reports on the effectiveness of a Robotics engineering curriculum in increasing the middle school students‘ achievement in science and math. Specifically, it aimed to find out if the students taking the robotics class performed significantly higher in science and math than a control group. The research examined and compared the scores in a pre and posttest and the normalized learning gains of students taking robotics in addition to their regular science and math versus those who are taking science and math only. Although this study showed that there is no significant difference in the science achievement scores of students between the experimental and control group, gender was identified an as important factor that affects the learning outcomes in a Robotics class. Further analyses also showed that despite the fact that students used general math ideas as they engage in the problem solving process during robotics-driven activities, their knowledge of math is no different from those who are not taking robotics

A long-term study of educational robotics and achievement in math and science

In recent years, educational robotics has become a popular tool in STEM programs, such as afterschool clubs, and summer camps, as well as classrooms. However, the research on the benefits of robotics have shown mixed results. In addition, many of the studies lack strong controls and focus on short-term effects, while the programs they investigate have few contact hours and do not have a consistent curriculum. This situation indicates that more research is needed. This work focuses on a public high school in Texas with a year-long robotics class. The first part examines a set of students who enrolled in the robotics class in the 9th or 10th grade, and a comparison group of students who did not enroll in robotics. The robotics and comparison groups were matched on 8th grade standardized math test scores, and demographic factors. Using multiple linear regression and logistic regression, I found that robotics enrollment was not a significant predictor for 11th grade math standardized test scores, or high school enrollment in Physics 1, Physics 2, or Calculus classes. The second part examines a series of video recordings of student teams in the robotics class working on a capstone project. Using grounded theory, I coded and analyzed recordings of two of the teams, focusing on the math and science discussions between the students and the contexts in which the math and science occur. Three themes emerged from the data. First, students use math/science more frequently to identify and fix problems than in their initial design. Second, students use math/science at a conceptual level and do not perform math calculations. Last, students have a “good enough” attitude and do not prioritize precision. These results may help explain the lack of effect robotics have on math test scores.Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Educatio

The Effect of STEM-Based Robotic Applications on the Creativity And Attitude of Students

In the present study, the effects of STEM based robotics applications on students' creativity and scientific attitudes in the Electricity Unit of 7th grade have been investigated by using the nested pattern of the mixed method. Sixty students, 30 of whom are the experimental group and the other 30 constitute the control group, attending a post-school course in Istanbul  in the academic year of 2018-2019, participated 2 weeks of pre-applications and 4 weeks of applications. TOSRA,to measure attitude towards science, and “Torrance Creative Thinking Test”,to measure creativity, were applied as pre and posttest. The data gained from the tests were analyzed with SPSS 21. Semi-structured interviews' data were analyzed by using content analysis. As a result, it was observed that STEM based robotics applications significantly increased students' creativity and attitudes towards science. Interview findings show that students enjoy using STEM applications that contain applications instead of theoretical knowledge. Using robotic and complex software materials to solve daily life problems, they felt like scientists during the practices and the applications affected their future career choices.Keywords STEM; creativity; robotic application; attitude; TOSR

Proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET 2013)

"This book contains the proceedings of the International Workshop on EuroPLOT Persuasive Technology for Learning, Education and Teaching (IWEPLET) 2013 which was held on 16.-17.September 2013 in Paphos (Cyprus) in conjunction with the EC-TEL conference. The workshop and hence the proceedings are divided in two parts: on Day 1 the EuroPLOT project and its results are introduced, with papers about the specific case studies and their evaluation. On Day 2, peer-reviewed papers are presented which address specific topics and issues going beyond the EuroPLOT scope. This workshop is one of the deliverables (D 2.6) of the EuroPLOT project, which has been funded from November 2010 – October 2013 by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Commission through the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLL) by grant #511633. The purpose of this project was to develop and evaluate Persuasive Learning Objects and Technologies (PLOTS), based on ideas of BJ Fogg. The purpose of this workshop is to summarize the findings obtained during this project and disseminate them to an interested audience. Furthermore, it shall foster discussions about the future of persuasive technology and design in the context of learning, education and teaching. The international community working in this area of research is relatively small. Nevertheless, we have received a number of high-quality submissions which went through a peer-review process before being selected for presentation and publication. We hope that the information found in this book is useful to the reader and that more interest in this novel approach of persuasive design for teaching/education/learning is stimulated. We are very grateful to the organisers of EC-TEL 2013 for allowing to host IWEPLET 2013 within their organisational facilities which helped us a lot in preparing this event. I am also very grateful to everyone in the EuroPLOT team for collaborating so effectively in these three years towards creating excellent outputs, and for being such a nice group with a very positive spirit also beyond work. And finally I would like to thank the EACEA for providing the financial resources for the EuroPLOT project and for being very helpful when needed. This funding made it possible to organise the IWEPLET workshop without charging a fee from the participants.

Mobile Robotics

The book is a collection of ten scholarly articles and reports of experiences and perceptions concerning pedagogical practices with mobile robotics.“This work is funded by CIEd – Research Centre on Education, project UID/CED/01661/2019, Institute of Education, University of Minho, through national funds of FCT/MCTES-PT.