Robotics as a tool to stem learning

Much has been written on the shortfalls in fully realizing the benefits of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. STEM is important, because it pervades every aspect of our lives. Nevertheless, STEM education is considered as hard, dull, and without emotional meaning. This article examines how the use of robotics in education benefits STEM learning and how teachers can get started with a robotics program in schools. In this study, students develop their building and programming skills teamwork, and presentation skills, as well as touch on STEM subjects school students using the LEGO NXT Mindstorm programmable reconfigurable robot, to observe and learn abstract physics concepts and to perform different designed activities. Students work in teams toward the common goal of developing logical and creative solutions to problems. The results of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in overall perceptions of assessments in STEM Semantics Perception Data, STEM Career Interest Scales and in the interview sessions. It is hoped that this program may set the stage for the transformation of the Malaysian education system which aspires to ensure that every student in every school in every state achieves their full potential, as stated in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025

Proceedings of the ANR ​#CreaMaker​ workshop: co-creativity, robotics and maker education.

International audienc

ANR #CreaMaker workshop : Co-creativity, robotics and maker educationProceedings

International audienceWe’re living exciting but also challenging times at the worldwide level. From one side, there are environmental challenges that can compromise our future as humanity and the socio economic tensions generated in a context of mass consumption within a model of fossil and nuclear energy which endangers a sustainable development. From the other side, we have a growing number of citizen-based initiatives aiming to improve the society and the technological infrastructures making possible to cooperate at large scale and not only at a small-group level. Younger becomes empowered for their future. In their initiatives such #FridaysForFuture they are no longer (interactive) media consumers but move forward as creative activists to make older generations change the system in order to save the planet. At the same time, we have observed in the last years the emergence of a wide diversity of third places (makerspace, fablab, living lab…) aiming to empower communities to design and develop their own creative solutions. In this context, maker-based projects have the potential to integrate tinkering, programming and educational robotics to engage the learner in the development of creativity both in individual and collaborative contexts (Kamga, Romero, Komis, & Mirsili, 2016). In this context, the ANR #CreaMaker project aims to analyse the development of creativity in the context of team-based maker activities combining tinkering and digital fabrication (Barma, Romero, & Deslandes, 2017; Fleming, 2015). This first workshop of the ANR #CreaMaker project aims to raise the question on the concept, activities and assessment of creativity in the context of maker education and its different approaches : computational thinking (Class’Code, AIDE), collective innovation (Invent@UCA), game design (Creative Cultures), problem solving (CreaCube), child-robot interactions and sustainable development activities. Researchers from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Italy and Spain will reunite with LINE researchers and the MSc SmartEdTech students in order to advance in how we can design, orchestrate and evaluate co-creativity in technology enhanced learning (TEL) contexts, and more specifically, in maker based education

Who Will Be the Members of Society 5.0? Towards an Anthropology of Technologically Posthumanized Future Societies

The Government of Japan’s “Society 5.0” initiative aims to create a cyber-physical society in which (among other things) citizens’ daily lives will be enhanced through increasingly close collaboration with artificially intelligent systems. However, an apparent paradox lies at the heart of efforts to create a more “human-centered” society in which human beings will live alongside a proliferating array of increasingly autonomous social robots and embodied AI. This study seeks to investigate the presumed human-centeredness of Society 5.0 by comparing its makeup with that of earlier societies. By distinguishing “technological” and “non-technological” processes of posthumanization and applying a phenomenological anthropological model, this study demonstrates: (1) how the diverse types of human and non-human members expected to participate in Society 5.0 differ qualitatively from one another; (2) how the dynamics that will shape the membership of Society 5.0 can be conceptualized; and (3) how the anticipated membership of Society 5.0 differs from that of Societies 1.0 through 4.0. This study describes six categories of prospective human and non-human members of Society 5.0 and shows that all six have analogues in earlier societies, which suggests that social scientific analysis of past societies may shed unexpected light on the nature of Society 5.0

The 4th Industrial Revolution and SMEs in Malaysia and Japan: Some Economic, Social and Ethical Considerations

As always in discussions of economic change, the choice of metaphors matters greatly. Today, two seem to be competing for our attention; the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and Industry 4. 0 (In4. 0). In origin, the term Industrial Revolution is a borrowing from politics, specifically from events in France between 1789 and 1793, and is highly dramatic in tone; it implies a process of sudden, rapid, radical change, one that is extremely divisive socially; liberating in the eyes of its proponents, destructive in those of its adversaries. In4.0 appears at first glance much less traumatic, and comparatively lacking in glamour; it is a software program upgrade, a consumer product similar but better than its predecessors, an improvement on an existing model, essentially unthreatening, designed to be user-friendly. Yet there is a sting in the tail. Why the 4.0? According to those who first popularised the phrase In4.0, ʻThe first three industrial revolutions came about as a result of mechanisation, electricity and IT. Now, the introduction of the Internet of Things and Services into the manufacturing environment is ushering in a fourth industrial revolutionʼ (Kagermann, Wahlster, & Helbig, 2013, p.6). So we are back firmly in the world of revolution. But even if it seems that 4IR and In4.0 are in fact intended as synonyms, the metaphorical difference in emphasis between them is still important, because it prompts some fundamental questions. How genuinely new and different is the 4IR/In4.0? Is it being oversold? Are we witnessing the early stages of a radical break with the past similar in scale to the changes that occurred in Britain between c.1750 and c.1850, or is what is happening less than that, an incremental change, essentially a sub-development of the IT revolution of the 1970s? And what timescale is involved? How far ahead are we supposed to be looking? A matter of a few years, or many decades? Finally, in what proportions will the 4IR/In4.0 prove benign or malevolent? Do the opportunities it offers outweigh the destruction that may ensue? To answer these questions, we obviously have to decide whether what we are currently dealing with is a genuine IR or not. To determine this, some kind of yardstick by which to assess it is needed, and this can only be offered by the past

New Trends in Development of Services in the Modern Economy

The services sector strategic development unites a multitude of economic and managerial aspects and is one of the most important problems of economic management. Many researches devoted to this industry study are available. Most of them are performed in the traditional aspect of the voluminous calendar approach to strategic management, characteristic of the national scientific school. Such an approach seems archaic, forming false strategic benchmarks. The services sector is of special scientific interest in this context due to the fact that the social production structure to the services development model attraction in many countries suggests transition to postindustrial economy type where the services sector is a system-supporting sector of the economy. Actively influencing the economy, the services sector in the developed countries dominates in the GDP formation, primary capital accumulation, labor, households final consumption and, finally, citizens comfort of living. However, a clear understanding of the services sector as a hyper-sector permeating all spheres of human activity has not yet been fully developed, although interest in this issue continues to grow among many authors. Target of strategic management of the industry development setting requires substantive content and the services sector target value assessment

Sustainable Value Co-Creation in Welfare Service Ecosystems : Transforming temporary collaboration projects into permanent resource integration

The aim of this paper is to discuss the unexploited forces of user-orientation and shared responsibility to promote sustainable value co-creation during service innovation projects in welfare service ecosystems. The framework is based on the theoretical field of public service logic (PSL) and our thesis is that service innovation seriously requires a user-oriented approach, and that such an approach enables resource integration based on the service-user’s needs and lifeworld. In our findings, we identify prerequisites and opportunities of collaborative service innovation projects in order to transform these projects into sustainable resource integration once they have ended

Proceedings of the ANR ​#CreaMaker​ workshop: co-creativity, robotics and maker education.

International audienc

Making sense of the language of peace: its meaning in Iraqi war victims' narratives

Positive discourse can empower people to use language that promotes peace in daily communication to avoid conflicts. Language is seen as the influencer and reflector of individual’s self-image and background. Yet, past studies focus more on the language of war or hate speech. In Iraq, polemic language has evidently led to sectarian conflicts and violence. Not much has been explored in making sense of peace utterances, the linguistic or non-linguistic features. Thus, this qualitative study explores the interpretation of the language of peace through the lens of twenty-five Iraqis who have encountered war in their country. The study seeks to make sense of the language of peace, its meanings and factors that can enhance peace among Iraqis. Through purposive sampling, data collected were observations and narratives from focus group and in-depth interviews. The selected respondents comprise Iraqi visiting lecturers and postgraduate students in a Malaysian public university. Based on the analytical discourse approach, the data reveal several core themes and sub-themes of language of peace. Among these include avoiding crisis, cooperative language, language of affection and sense of security. The associated peace words include being caring, polite and promoting inner peace which are reflected in the factors that can enhance peace in daily communication. The study reveals several implications. It promotes a platform for deliberating peaceful rhetoric in violence-prone areas. It gives educators and decision makers a deeper understanding of language of peace that enables speakers to develop good, meaningful relationships, display politeness and feelings of goodwill. A similar approach can be used to obtain in-depth reflections about such language among other war victims. Further research studies should explore the language of peace roles in deliberating effective strategies to overcome conflicts in today’s digitalised world given that the language of endearment, conviction and hate can be disseminated quickly