The discovery laboratory – A student-centred experiential learning practical: Part I – Overview

Chemical Engineering’s Discovery Laboratory at Imperial College London is a practical teaching programme designed specifically to support student-centred learning at an advanced level, bridging the gap between instructions driven lab experiments and fully open ended research. In the first part of this article we present an overview of this programme with particular attention given to the design of the pedagogical framework and the execution of teaching. The teaching goal is delivered by in-depth experiential learning, where students are assigned a specific subject area to conduct their own research within a set timeframe and boundary conditions that guarantee a successful learning outcome. Academic supervisors and teaching assistants play an important role in this process, where they provide students with continuing guidance throughout. The use of research or industrial grade equipment ensures the students’ preparation for their final year research project as well as their post-graduation careers. In addition to summative assessments, students also receive formative feedback periodically from academic supervisors and teaching assistants. The Discovery Laboratory has received positive feedback from both teachers and students since its inauguration in 2011 and here we share some useful insights for the execution of such a practical teaching programme

Space-Based Capstone: Public-Private-Academic Partnership in the Making

The Electronic Systems Engineering Technology (ESET) Program at Texas A&M University provides a recognized undergraduate program with an emphasis in electronics, communication, embedded systems, testing, instrumentation and control systems. The program combines engineering and industrial knowledge and methods to develop, design, and implement new innovative products through a two-semester long Senior Capstone Project. Capstone is designed to prepare future engineers by bridging the gap between the classroom and industry. Students are required to form teams of two to six members which allows them to develop the skills necessary to succeed in a diverse industry setting. Each team is required to use their knowledge and skills to design, develop, document, and deliver a real-world project equivalent to the assignments they will soon receive as professional engineers. Following NASA’s approval for funding the development of a research facility named Hermes, a Capstone team, named Microgravity Automated Research Systems (MARS), was sponsored by T STAR, a local space commercialization company, to develop the electronics portion of the facility. Hermes will reside on the International Space Station for five years in the hopes of streamlining the development of experiments that require extended periods of time in microgravity environments. The Hermes facility will host and manage up to four experiments at a time while allowing for the downlink of experiment data to an Earth station, and the uplink of commands to change experiment parameters. Experiments will adhere to a power budget and communication standard established by MARS so that experiments can be swapped out during the facility’s lifetime. MARS will work with the Mobile Integrated Solutions Laboratory (MISL), an undergraduate applied research lab, in order to prepare them to maintain support for Hermes in the future.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Designing experiments using digital fabrication in structural dynamics

In engineering, traditional approaches aimed at teaching concepts of dynamics to engineering students include the study of a dense yet sequential theoretical development of proofs and exercises. Structural dynamics are seldom taught experimentally in laboratories since these facilities should be provided with expensive equipment such as wave generators, data-acquisition systems, and heavily wired deployments with sensors. In this paper, the design of an experimental experience in the classroom based upon digital fabrication and modeling tools related to structural dynamics is presented. In particular, all experimental deployments are conceived with low-cost, open-source equipment. The hardware includes Arduino-based open-source electronics whereas the software is based upon object-oriented open-source codes for the development of physical simulations. The set of experiments and the physical simulations are reproducible and scalable in classroom-based environments.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Research and practice: Bridging the gap or changing the focus?

Bridging the gulf that tends to persist between research in mathematics education and mathematics teaching practice is a timely issue. This comment addresses the impact of research not only on teachers’ practices and the curriculum, but also on students’ practices, teacher education practices, the educational market, and the society at large. It argues that for research to bring about changes in mathematics teaching and learning we need to act at a systemic level. It also argues that if we want to have a real influence on practice, we need to see that as a problem on itself. It concludes indicating that our con-fidence in the power of research to understand phenomena and intervene in practice must be combined with an attitude of social responsiveness, working closely with different social partners and being critical and reflective about what we do.Tapar o fosso que tende a persistir entre a investigação na educação matemática e a prática de ensino é uma questão urgente. Este comentário debruça-se sobre o impacto da investigação não apenas nas práticas de ensino dos professores e no currículo, mas também nas práticas dos alunos, nas práticas de formação de professores, no mercado educacional, e na sociedade em geral. Argumenta que, para que a investigação traga mudanças no ensino e na aprendizagem da Matemática, é necessário agirmos ao nível sistémico. Também argumenta que, se quisermos ter uma influência real na prática, precisamos de ver que isso constitui um problema em si mesmo. O artigo conclui indicando que a nossa confiança no poder da investigação para compreender os fenómenos e intervir na prática deve ser combinado com uma atitude de responsabilidade social, trabalhando estreitamente com diferentes parceiros sociais e sendo críticos e reflexivos em relação ao nosso próprio trabalho

The Practices of Play and Informal Learning in the miniGEMS STEAM Camp

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) play an important role in the educational reform and global economy. However, STEM education lacks the hands-on laboratory in the formal middle school and high school curricula. The widespread gender gap in multiple STEM disciplines causes middle-school aged girls have lower positive attitudes and interests towards STEM fields than male students. In recent years, Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) education has been viewed as other approaches to increase students’ interests and improve study accesses to STEM fields in the United States. The addition of the arts in STAEM education provides more learning opportunities and real-world contexts which meet more students’ interests. miniGEMS 2017 was a free two-week summer STEAM and programming camp for middle school girls in grades six to eight hosted by the Autonomous Vehicle Systems (AVS) Research and Education Laboratory at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW). miniGEMS was the first free camp with a special focus on engineering and programming in San Antonio. The camp utilized project-based learning curriculum and provided multiple hands-on experiments, field trips, and significant interactions with guest speakers, all of which were designed to increase the middle school girls’ interests in STEM-related fields. This paper provides an overview of miniGEMS STEAM camp, motivation for miniGEMS camp, and details on practicing project-based play activities in an informal learning environment.Cockrell School of Engineerin

Strategies for successful field deployment in a resource-poor region: Arsenic remediation technology for drinking water

Strong long-term international partnership in science, technology, finance and policy is critical for sustainable field experiments leading to successful commercial deployment of novel technology at community-scale. Although technologies already exist that can remediate arsenic in groundwater, most are too expensive or too complicated to operate on a sustained basis in resource-poor communities with the low technical skill common in rural South Asia. To address this specific problem, researchers at University of California-Berkeley (UCB) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) invented a technology in 2006 called electrochemical arsenic remediation (ECAR). Since 2010, researchers at UCB and LBNL have collaborated with Global Change Program of Jadavpur University (GCP-JU) in West Bengal, India for its social embedding alongside a local private industry group, and with financial support from the Indo-US Technology Forum (IUSSTF) over 2012–2017. During the first 10 months of pilot plant operation (April 2016 to January 2017) a total of 540 m3 (540,000 L) of arsenic-safe water was produced, consistently and reliably reducing arsenic concentrations from initial 252 ± 29 to final 2.9 ± 1 parts per billion (ppb). This paper presents the critical strategies in taking a technology from a lab in the USA to the field in India for commercialization to address the technical, socio-economic, and political aspects of the arsenic public health crisis while targeting several sustainable development goals (SDGs). The lessons learned highlight the significance of designing a technology contextually, bridging the knowledge divide, supporting local livelihoods, and complying with local regulations within a defined Critical Effort Zone period with financial support from an insightful funding source focused on maturing inventions and turning them into novel technologies for commercial scale-up. Along the way, building trust with the community through repetitive direct interactions, and communication by the scientists, proved vital for bridging the technology-society gap at a critical stage of technology deployment. The information presented here fills a knowledge gap regarding successful case studies in which the arsenic remediation technology obtains social acceptance and sustains technical performance over time, while operating with financial viability

African Universities: Stories of Change

Profiles successful foundation initiatives in Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda that are reforming the higher education landscape in Africa

Bridging the Gap in Physics Education

Over the past few years there has been a growing interest in the possible benefits of computer simulations in physics education. However, very little research has been conducted on how computer simulations can actually be integrated into a physics program (Zacharia & Anderson, 2003). This research investigated the effects of computer simulations on the development of accurate mental models when used in conjunction with traditional laboratory-based experiments. Since laboratory experiments can often have results that are very difficult to observe, these results only become evident to the trained eye of an expert. Computer simulations are able to present phenomena free of the normal distractions that occur during traditional laboratory-based experiments. Through the analysis of post-tests, questionnaires, and student interviews conducted in a high school physics class, it was shown that when computer simulations are used in conjunction with traditional laboratory activities students appear to make accurate revisions to their naive mental models of motion. The results also indicate that the majority of the students believe that the computer simulations assisted in the clarification of the laboratory results and allowed them to more fully understand the theoretical concepts being presented in the laboratory investigation

From inanimate matter to living systems

Since the early part of this century, the Genesis account of the origin and evolution of life has been explained as an extrapolation of astronomical and geochemical processes. The essence of the answer to date is a protoreproductive protocell of much biochemical and cytophysical competance. The processes of its origin, molecular ordering, and its functions are described. A crucial understanding is that of the nonrandomness of evolutionary processes at all stages (with perhaps a minor statistical component). In this way, evolution conflicts with statistical randomness; the latter is a favorite assumption of both scientific and creationistic critics of the proteinoid theory. The principle contribution of the proteinoid theory to the understanding of general biology is to particularize the view that evolutionary direction is rooted in the shapes of molecules, in stereochemistry. After molecules of the right kind first assembled to protocells, life in its various stages of evolution was an inevitable consequence. It is molecules that continue to assemble as part of living process and, in the role of enzymes, continue to direct life cycle of the cell