E-Learning

Technology development, mainly for telecommunications and computer systems, was a key factor for the interactivity and, thus, for the expansion of e-learning. This book is divided into two parts, presenting some proposals to deal with e-learning challenges, opening up a way of learning about and discussing new methodologies to increase the interaction level of classes and implementing technical tools for helping students to make better use of e-learning resources. In the first part, the reader may find chapters mentioning the required infrastructure for e-learning models and processes, organizational practices, suggestions, implementation of methods for assessing results, and case studies focused on pedagogical aspects that can be applied generically in different environments. The second part is related to tools that can be adopted by users such as graphical tools for engineering, mobile phone networks, and techniques to build robots, among others. Moreover, part two includes some chapters dedicated specifically to e-learning areas like engineering and architecture

Virtual Reality Games for Motor Rehabilitation

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based method to track user satisfaction without the need for devices to monitor users physiological conditions. User satisfaction is the key to any product’s acceptance; computer applications and video games provide a unique opportunity to provide a tailored environment for each user to better suit their needs. We have implemented a non-adaptive fuzzy logic model of emotion, based on the emotional component of the Fuzzy Logic Adaptive Model of Emotion (FLAME) proposed by El-Nasr, to estimate player emotion in UnrealTournament 2004. In this paper we describe the implementation of this system and present the results of one of several play tests. Our research contradicts the current literature that suggests physiological measurements are needed. We show that it is possible to use a software only method to estimate user emotion

Elementary Educators\u27 Attitudes about the Utility of Educational Robotics and Their Ability and Intent to Use It with Students

Educational robotics (ER) combines accessible and age-appropriate building materials, programmable interfaces, and computer coding to teach science and mathematics using the engineering design process. ER has been shown to increase K-12 students\u27 understanding of STEM concepts, and can develop students\u27 self-confidence and interest in STEM. As educators struggle to adapt their current science teaching practices to meet the new interdisciplinary nature of the Next Generation Science Standards, ER has the potential to simultaneously integrate STEM disciplines, engage and inspire students in mathematics and science, and build connections to STEM careers. One challenge is a lack of documented models for preparing educators, particularly at the elementary level, to effectively use robotics in their classrooms. The lack of scholarship on appropriate robotics platforms for elementary learners, reliable techniques of delivering professional development in ER, or standardized instruments that can reliably measure elementary educators\u27 self-efficacy with robotics suggests there is a need for such research. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of a four-hour, hands-on, ER professional development workshop on K-5th grade educators\u27 attitudes about their ability to teach ER, the value (utility) of the technology, and their desire to use it (intent). An 18-question survey was administered before (pre-) and after (post-) the workshop, as well as a third time after educators had an opportunity to use robotics with students (post-post). In order to extend and explain the quantitative data, 60% of the educators who completed all three surveys were also interviewed. This study sought to determine if any of the trained educators also participated in after-school robotics competitions, and if so what impact that had on their attitudes of using ER. Results comparing the pre to post workshop means determined that there were statistically significant differences with large effect sizes in educators\u27 attitudes across all three subscales. The interviews supported the conclusion that the workshop and classroom kits are important for successful implementation of ER in classrooms. Post use surveys did not result in statistically significant differences in educators\u27 attitudes, demonstrating persistence of attitudes consistent with the interview results that revealed educators value the hands-on nature of ER which they believe increases student engagement in STEM and cross-curricular learning. A case-study of one educator suggests that participation in FIRSTRTM LEGORTM League Jr. increased the skills, confidence, and engagement of both the teacher and students which led to the integration of engineering practices, and school-wide interest in ER. This study demonstrates the importance of high-quality professional development in increasing educators\u27 self-efficacy with using ER with elementary students, and suggests that new tablet-based, wireless robotics platforms, such as the LEGORTM WeDo 2.0 enable younger learners to engaged with this technology. Additional research is necessary to better understand the impact of ER on students, and to identify and study schools where ER helped lead a transformation of the teaching toward constructionism. It is vital for the success of our children and our nation that we engage and inspire students in STEM subjects and career pathways at an early age if we are to meet the needs of the 21st century job market, reduce disparities in STEM fields, and maintain our place in the global economy

Estado del arte en robótica cooperativa aplicada al rescate de víctimas

The present article, in the context of a documentary research carried out and interpreted to be taken as a baseline in research for the ROMA Autonomous Mobile Robotics Group of the Francisco José de Caldas District University, describes the state of art of the applied RC to the rescue of victims. The revision is established chronologically in the last fifteen years; in Latin America; and focused mainly in Colombia. They are used as sources: The Google Schoolar database, and articles from the electronic engineering journals indexed for the year 2017 in COLCIENCIAS. As a product thrown, a particular model of communication technology used in CR is presented in the Colombian context.El presente artículo, en el contexto de una investigación documental realizada e interpretada para que fuera tomada como línea de base en investigaciones para el grupo de Robótica Móvil Autónoma ROMA de la Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, describe el estado de arte de la RC aplicada al rescate de víctimas. Se establece cronológicamente la revisión en los últimos quince años; en Latinoamérica; y enfocada principalmente en Colombia. Se utilizan como fuentes: la base de datos Google Schoolar, y artículos de las revistas de Ingeniería electrónica indexadas para el año 2017 en COLCIENCIAS. Como producto arrojado se presenta un modelo particular de la tecnología de comunicación empleada en RC en el contexto colombiano

How youth learn through creating physical computer interfaces

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-130).The Hook-ups project introduces a new set of tools, materials, and activities intended to support children in creating physical computer input devices for computer programs they write. This project introduces a new approach to learning-through-design by providing opportunities for children to engage in both physical and computational design concurrently. This thesis describes the design of Hook-ups tools and materials, including the development of Scratch Patches - a new puzzle-piece-like set of technological building blocks used to build computer input devices. Also presented are classifications of the types of Hook-ups developed by youth, an analysis of what and how youth learned through Hook-ups design activities, and a roadmap for future work in the area of interaction design for children.by Amon Daran Millner.S.M

Self-determined teacher learning in a digital context fundamental change in thinking and practice

“Self-determined Teacher Learning in a Digital Context” reports on a longitudinal study of teacher empowerment through Constructionist learning about computational technologies and learning about learning itself. The study includes but looks beyond how teachers engage with technology, to how they redefine their own understandings o f learning as they use technology in working alongside their students. The teachers’ emerging self-reflective practice enables them to better understand the multifaceted structure of the learning situation and their own relations to its social, cognitive, and affective aspects. The “Empowering Minds” study also addresses how teachers can become critical judges o f technologies, in order to define for themselves and suggest for others what being digital can mean in learning. These processes have the potential to change educational strategies on personal, community and national scales. How teachers understand learning and how we conceptualise teacher learning will directly affect future generations’ potentials. Teachers grapple with epistemological issues in designing and developing environments around new protean materials that enable each person’s construction of ideas and expression of self. Learning theory becomes less abstract and more meaningful as teachers create a language for talking among themselves about learning. The resulting concrétisation of learning processes becomes possible through anchoring the learning with and about technologies in the teachers’ everyday reality o f the classroom. Teachers become empowered to use their own practice as “an object-to-thinkwith” in the Papertian sense. By externalising and examining their understandings of learning, they experiment with and ultimately transform their teaching practice, their relationships with their students, and their understandings of their role as teachers. Constructionists have been challenged to demonstrate that their assertions about education work. The approach described here is a compelling response. Furthermore its continuance among the original participants and its extension to a variety o f new initiatives demonstrate both sustainability and scalability

Aprendizagem de tópicos e conceitos matemáticos no 1º Ciclo do Ensino Básico: uma história com robots

Tomando por base o entendimento de que a aprendizagem matemática é um fenómeno emergente da participação em práticas sociais e que aprender matemática implica a transformação dos alunos e das práticas nas quais estes se envolvem, foi formulado o seguinte problema de investigação: compreender a aprendizagem de tópicos e conceitos matemáticos por alunos do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico, participando num projeto com robots. O enquadramento teórico da presente investigação assenta em duas teorias da aprendizagem – Teoria da Aprendizagem Situada (baseada nos trabalhos de Lave e Wenger) e Teoria da Atividade (nomeadamente a investigação levada a cabo pela 3.ª geração, instrumentalizada por Engeström). No domínio metodológico o estudo inclui uma componente empírica que envolveu um Cenário de Aprendizagem, desenhado no âmbito do projeto de investigação DROIDE II – Os Robots em Educação Matemática e Informática. O cenário envolveu duas turmas do 1.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico (2.º e 3.º anos de escolaridade) da mesma escola, trabalhando conjuntamente num projeto com robots da Lego Mindstorms. A análise dos dados seguiu um esquema analítico interpretativo, tendo sido portanto utilizadas técnicas e métodos qualitativos. Os resultados do estudo apontam para os contributos do uso de robots enquanto artefactos mediadores da aprendizagem matemática e para o seu papel estruturante na negociação de significados matemáticos pelos alunos. Além da importância assumida pelo robot neste cenário de aprendizagem, as conclusões do estudo apontam para a importância da metodologia de trabalho adotada. O design do cenário de aprendizagem assente na cooperação e interdisciplinaridade que caracterizou o projeto, a formação de grupos de trabalho com alunos de ambas as turmas, o posicionamento das professoras e da equipa de investigadores, a tomada de decisão negociada e o sentido de responsabilidade e responsabilização assumiram-se como motores impulsionadores das tarefas desenvolvidas, sendo sem dúvida aspetos estruturantes na aprendizagem matemática dos alunos.Assuming mathematics learning as an emergent phenomenon from participation in social practices and that learn mathematics implies the transformation from the students and from the practices in which they are engaged, it was defined the following investigation problem: understand the learning of mathematics topics and concepts by students from elementary school, when they participate in a project with robots. The theoretical framework from this investigation is based on two learning theories – The Situated Learning Theory (based in the works of Lave and Wenger) and the Activity Theory (namely the investigation made by the third generation, based in the works of Engeström). In the methodological field, this study includes an empirical component that involved a Learning Scenario, designed under the research project DROIDE II - Robots in Mathematics and Informatics Education. The learning scenario was designed involving two primary school classes (2nd and 3rd grade, 24 and 16 students, respectively) from the same school, working together in a project with robots, from Lego Mindstorms. The data analysis followed an interpretative scheme and because of that it was used qualitative techniques and methods. The results of the study point to the contributions of using robots as mediating artifacts on mathematics learning and its structuring role in the negotiation of mathematical meanings by the students. Despite the contributions that robots brought to this learning scenario, we cannot disregard the working methodology advocated. The design of the scenario based on cooperation and interdisciplinary activities that characterized the project, the heterogeneous working groups, with students from both classes, the positioning of teachers and researchers, the decision-making and the negotiated sense of responsibility and accountability were certainly aspects that potentiate students’ mathematics learning

Mechatronic Systems

Mechatronics, the synergistic blend of mechanics, electronics, and computer science, has evolved over the past twenty five years, leading to a novel stage of engineering design. By integrating the best design practices with the most advanced technologies, mechatronics aims at realizing high-quality products, guaranteeing at the same time a substantial reduction of time and costs of manufacturing. Mechatronic systems are manifold and range from machine components, motion generators, and power producing machines to more complex devices, such as robotic systems and transportation vehicles. With its twenty chapters, which collect contributions from many researchers worldwide, this book provides an excellent survey of recent work in the field of mechatronics with applications in various fields, like robotics, medical and assistive technology, human-machine interaction, unmanned vehicles, manufacturing, and education. We would like to thank all the authors who have invested a great deal of time to write such interesting chapters, which we are sure will be valuable to the readers. Chapters 1 to 6 deal with applications of mechatronics for the development of robotic systems. Medical and assistive technologies and human-machine interaction systems are the topic of chapters 7 to 13.Chapters 14 and 15 concern mechatronic systems for autonomous vehicles. Chapters 16-19 deal with mechatronics in manufacturing contexts. Chapter 20 concludes the book, describing a method for the installation of mechatronics education in schools