Learning Computational Thinking in Phenomenon-based Co-creation Projects : Perspectives from Finland

Peer reviewe

Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemática STEM como Método de Enseñanza en Ingeniería

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is used to describe the study of four of the major areas of scientific knowledge. STEM is an initiative that was born around the 90's, and was created by the United States government agency known as the National Science Foundation (NFC) which is dedicated to advances in research and education in all fields (not dedicated to medicine) related to science and engineering. STEM education is a strategy that covers the different disciplines of scientific research related to the areas of knowledge declared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and focuses its efforts on preparing the professionals of tomorrow, who will be responsible for providing the necessary knowledge transfer for future fields of action that are positioned within the so-called industry 4.0. The study of this technique or methodology focuses on the investigation of different strategies implemented to carry out the effective learning of students in specific topics of science and engineering, as well as to show the fields of action that have the insertion of STEM within its curriculum as a methodological tool when educating trainees in topics related to mobile applications, Arduino, Aeronautics, Biotechnology, Software Engineering, Control Engineering, Transmission Lines, Robotics among others, demonstrating how beneficial it has been for the recruitment of new students in scientific career fields and the acquisition of specific competences and skills of the students.La Ciencia, Tecnología, Ingeniería y Matemáticas STEM por sus siglas en ingles se utiliza para describir el estudio de cuatro de las grandes áreas del conocimiento científico, el STEM es una iniciativa que nace alrededor de los años 90, y fue creada por la agencia gubernamental de los estados unidos conocida como  National Science Foundation NFC la cual se dedica a los avances en investigación y educación en todos los campos (no dedicados a la medicina), relacionados con la ciencia e ingeniería. La educación STEM es una estrategia que abarca las diferentes disciplinas de la investigación científica relacionada con las áreas del conocimiento declaradas por la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico OCDE y enfoca sus esfuerzos en preparar a los profesionales del mañana, los cuales se encargaran de aportar la transferencia de conocimiento necesaria para los campos de acción futuros que se posicionan dentro de la llamada industria 4.0. El estudio de esta técnica o metodología se centra en la investigación de diferentes estrategias implementadas para llevar a cabo el aprendizaje efectivo de los alumnos en temas específicos de las ciencias y la ingeniería, como también en mostrar los campos de acción que cuentan con la inserción del STEM dentro de su currículo como herramienta metodológica a la hora de educar a los aprendices en temas relacionados con las Aplicaciones móviles, Arduino, Aeronáutica, Biotecnología, Ingeniería de Software, ingeniería de control, líneas de transmisión, robótica entre otras, demostrando cuan beneficioso ha sido para el reclutamiento de nuevos estudiantes en campos de carreras profesionales científicas y la adquisición de competencias y habilidades específicas de los estudiantes &nbsp

The Boston University Photonics Center annual report 2016-2017

This repository item contains an annual report that summarizes activities of the Boston University Photonics Center in the 2016-2017 academic year. The report provides quantitative and descriptive information regarding photonics programs in education, interdisciplinary research, business innovation, and technology development. The Boston University Photonics Center (BUPC) is an interdisciplinary hub for education, research, scholarship, innovation, and technology development associated with practical uses of light.This has undoubtedly been the Photonics Center’s best year since I became Director 10 years ago. In the following pages, you will see highlights of the Center’s activities in the past year, including more than 100 notable scholarly publications in the leading journals in our field, and the attraction of more than 22 million dollars in new research grants/contracts. Last year I had the honor to lead an international search for the first recipient of the Moustakas Endowed Professorship in Optics and Photonics, in collaboration with ECE Department Chair Clem Karl. This professorship honors the Center’s most impactful scholar and one of the Center’s founding visionaries, Professor Theodore Moustakas. We are delighted to haveawarded this professorship to Professor Ji-Xin Cheng, who joined our faculty this year.The past year also marked the launch of Boston University’s Neurophotonics Center, which will be allied closely with the Photonics Center. Leading that Center will be a distinguished new faculty member, Professor David Boas. David and I are together leading a new Neurophotonics NSF Research Traineeship Program that will provide $3M to promote graduate traineeships in this emerging new field. We had a busy summer hosting NSF Sites for Research Experiences for Undergraduates, Research Experiences for Teachers, and the BU Student Satellite Program. As a community, we emphasized the theme of “Optics of Cancer Imaging” at our annual symposium, hosted by Darren Roblyer. We entered a five-year second phase of NSF funding in our Industry/University Collaborative Research Center on Biophotonic Sensors and Systems, which has become the centerpiece of our translational biophotonics program. That I/UCRC continues to focus on advancing the health care and medical device industries

A Knowledge Based Educational (KBEd) framework for enhancing practical skills in engineering distance learners through an augmented reality environment

The technology advancement has changed distance learning teaching and learning approaches, for example, virtual laboratories are increasingly used to deliver engineering courses. These advancements enhance the distance learners practical experience of engineering courses. While most of these efforts emphasise the importance of the technology, few have sought to understand the techniques for capturing, modelling and automating the on-campus laboratory tutors’ knowledge. The lack of automation of tutors’ knowledge has also affected the practical learning outcomes of engineering distance learners. Hence, there is a need to explore further on how to integrate the tutor's knowledge, which is necessary for imparting and assessing practical skills through current technological advances in distance learning. One approach to address this concern is through the use of Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) principles. These KBE principles facilitate the utilisation of standardised methods for capturing, modelling and embedding experts’ knowledge into engineering design applications for the automation of product design. Hence, utilising such principles could facilitate, automating engineering laboratory tutors’ knowledge for teaching and assessing practical skills. However, there is limited research in the application of KBE principles in the educational domain. Therefore, this research explores the use of KBE principles to automate instructional design in engineering distance learning technologies. As a result, a Knowledge Based Educational (KBEd) framework that facilitates the capturing, modelling and automating on-campus tutors’ knowledge and introduces it to distance learning and teaching approaches. This study used a four-stage experimental approach, which involved rapid prototyping method to design and develop the proposed KBEd framework to a functional prototype. The developed prototype was further refined through internal and external expert group using face validity methods such as questionnaire, observation and discussion. The refined prototype was then evaluated through welding task use-case. The use cases were assessed by first year engineering undergraduate students with no prior experience of welding from Birmingham City University. The participants were randomly separated into two groups (N = 46). One group learned and practised basic welding in the proposed KBEd system, while the other learned and practised in the conventional on-campus environment. A concurrent validity assessment was used in determining the usefulness of the proposed system in learning hands-on practical engineering skills through proposed KBEd system. The results of the evaluation indicate that students who trained with the proposed KBEd system successfully gained the practical skills equivalent to those in the real laboratory environment. Although there was little performance variation between the two groups, it was rooted in the limitations of the system’s hardware. The learning outcomes achieved also demonstrated the successful application of KBE principles in capturing, modelling and transforming the knowledge from the real tutor to the AI tutor for automating the teaching and assessing of the practical skills for distance learners. Further the data analysis has shown the potential of KBEd to be extendable to other taught distance-learning courses involving practical skills

Introductory programming: a systematic literature review

As computing becomes a mainstream discipline embedded in the school curriculum and acts as an enabler for an increasing range of academic disciplines in higher education, the literature on introductory programming is growing. Although there have been several reviews that focus on specific aspects of introductory programming, there has been no broad overview of the literature exploring recent trends across the breadth of introductory programming. This paper is the report of an ITiCSE working group that conducted a systematic review in order to gain an overview of the introductory programming literature. Partitioning the literature into papers addressing the student, teaching, the curriculum, and assessment, we explore trends, highlight advances in knowledge over the past 15 years, and indicate possible directions for future research

E-Learning

E-learning enables students to pace their studies according to their needs, making learning accessible to (1) people who do not have enough free time for studying - they can program their lessons according to their available schedule; (2) those far from a school (geographical issues), or the ones unable to attend classes due to some physical or medical restriction. Therefore, cultural, geographical and physical obstructions can be removed, making it possible for students to select their path and time for the learning course. Students are then allowed to choose the main objectives they are suitable to fulfill. This book regards E-learning challenges, opening a way to understand and discuss questions related to long-distance and lifelong learning, E-learning for people with special needs and, lastly, presenting case study about the relationship between the quality of interaction and the quality of learning achieved in experiences of E-learning formation