Advancing Robotics at the Harry Fultz Institute

This project advanced the robotics club at the Harry Fultz Institute in Tirana, Albania by applying various teaching methods, including self-directed learning and group work. We worked alongside Professor Enxhi Jaupi and 6 teams of 5 high school students to understand, design, and construct robots to complete complex tasks. During this time, students were taught fundamental concepts of robotics, such as DC motors, computer-aided design (CAD), and programming. The biggest obstacle to project completion remained the long shipping time for parts. Two solutions proposed to address the long delay in part arrival are pre-selecting student projects or structuring the club around a final competition. The main future goal is to establish the school as the center of robotics in Albania

Engineering Outreach to Danish Students

Due to a recent decline in mathematics and science performance among primary school students in Denmark and waning interest in engineering, the Engineering College of Copenhagen (IHK) sponsored this project to increase engineering enrollment. The project created six short-term, high-interest, hands-on programs allowing Danish students to experience the everyday activities of engineers. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of programs revealed success at increasing engineering interest and awareness. Program materials were left with IHK for future program implementation at other Danish schools

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

From Instructionism to Constructionism: the role of tinkering in educational technology

https://www.ester.ee/record=b5258038*es

Circuits to control--learning engineering by designing LEGO robots

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Media Arts & Sciences, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 251-255).by Fred Garth Martin.Ph.D

Tangible user interfaces : past, present and future directions

In the last two decades, Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) have emerged as a new interface type that interlinks the digital and physical worlds. Drawing upon users' knowledge and skills of interaction with the real non-digital world, TUIs show a potential to enhance the way in which people interact with and leverage digital information. However, TUI research is still in its infancy and extensive research is required in or- der to fully understand the implications of tangible user interfaces, to develop technologies that further bridge the digital and the physical, and to guide TUI design with empirical knowledge. This paper examines the existing body of work on Tangible User In- terfaces. We start by sketching the history of tangible user interfaces, examining the intellectual origins of this field. We then present TUIs in a broader context, survey application domains, and review frame- works and taxonomies. We also discuss conceptual foundations of TUIs including perspectives from cognitive sciences, phycology, and philoso- phy. Methods and technologies for designing, building, and evaluating TUIs are also addressed. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limita- tions of TUIs and chart directions for future research

Designs for Research, Teaching and Learning

This bookoffers a coherent theoretical and multimodal perspective on research, teaching and learning in different non-formal, semi-formal, and formal learning environments. Drawing on examples across a range of different settings, the book provides a conceptual framework for research on learning in different environments. It provides conceptual models around learning design which act as a framework for how to think about contemporary learning, a guideline for how to do research on learning in different sites, and a tool for innovative, collaborative design with other professionals. The book highlights concepts like multimodal knowledge representations; framing and setting; transformation, transduction, and re-design; signs of learning and cultures of recognition in different social contexts. The book supports innovative thinking on how we understand learning, and will appeal to academics, scholars and postgraduate students in the fields of education research and theory, learning sciences, and multimodal and social semiotics. It will also be of interest to school leaders, university provosts and professionals working in education

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.

A gentle transition from Java programming to Web Services using XML-RPC

Exposing students to leading edge vocational areas of relevance such as Web Services can be difficult. We show a lightweight approach by embedding a key component of Web Services within a Level 3 BSc module in Distributed Computing. We present a ready to use collection of lecture slides and student activities based on XML-RPC. In addition we show that this material addresses the central topics in the context of web services as identified by Draganova (2003)