Joining the game and the experiment in peer-to-peer remote laboratories for STEM education

Remote Access Laboratories (RAL) provide access to experimental setups from remote locations. These experimental setups are composed of controller units programmed to gather data and interact with user inputs. A distributed version of RAL can be maker oriented i.e. the experiment rigs are designed by individuals and shared among each other. This paper presents the programming aspects and activity user interface (UI) design and organization of experiments in a distributed RAL aims at STEM education. The user interface must be interactive to increase engagement and motivation for the user. Being designed for school students, the environment to create the control logic of a rig created by the student needs to be on a homogenous platform. The programming language has to be easy to understand and use. Characteristics and requirements of a graphical programming language SNAP, which is modified and used as the programming platform for RAL, is studied in this paper

Istraživanje postignuća i motivacije učenja tekstualnoga programskog jezika među učenicima osnovnih škola u Republici Srbiji

The introduction of Informatics and Computing as a compulsory subject for students from the fifth to the eighth grade of elementary school, and programming as a basic content of the curriculum represents a major advancement in elementary education in the Republic of Serbia. In this study we conducted research on 58 primary school students in the sixth grade. In the 2016/17 school year, students studied the programming language Scratch, and in the school year 2017/18, they learned the Python programming language. The programming courses took place once a week (45 minutes) over 17 weeks. This study aimed to monitor the flow of learning visual and textual programming language following the new elementary school curriculum in Republic of Serbia, that is, the achievement and motivation of students to continue learning programming. The research instrument used was a questionnaire. The results of this study showed that it was easier for students to master the visual programming language Scratch than the textual programming language Python. However, the research results show that algorithmic way of thinking and motivation to learn by programming a text language are satisfactory, given that students have not had previous experience with it.Uvođenje informatike i računarstva kao obveznoga predmeta za učenike od petog do osmog razreda osnovne škole te programiranja kao osnovnoga sadržaja kurikula predstavlja veliki iskorak u osnovnom obrazovanju u Republici Srbiji. U ovom radu provodeno je istraživanje na N = 58 učenika osnovnih škola šestog razreda. U školskoj godini 2016./17. učenici su učili programski jezik Scratch, a u školskoj godini 2017./18. učili su programski jezik Python. Tečajevi programiranja realizirali su se jednom tjedno (45 minuta) tijekom 17 tjedana. Cilj je ove studije pratiti tijek učenja vizualnoga i tekstualnoga programskog jezika sljedeći novi OŠ kurikul u Republici Srbiji te istražiti postignuće i motivaciju učenika za nastavak učenja programiranja. Korišteni istraživački instrument bio je upitnik. Rezultati ovoga istraživanja pokazali su da je učenicima bilo lakše svladati vizualni programski jezik Scratch nego tekstualni programski jezik Python. Međutim, rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da su algoritamski način razmišljanja i motivacija za učenje programiranjem tekstualnoga jezika zadovoljavajući s obzirom na to da učenici s tim nisu imali prethodno iskustvo

AstroCódigo : Un juego serio para la introducción de jóvenes en los conceptos básicos de la programación

La presente tesina se enmarca en un proceso de investigación aplicada relacionada con la inclusión de tecnologías digitales, en especial el uso de juegos, en procesos de enseñar y aprender. Se realizó un estudio bibliográfico sobre juegos serios, y como resultado se ha problematizado su definición en la introducción de este trabajo. A la vez que se procedió a la revisión de antecedentes de juegos serios para la enseñanza de la programación junto con un análisis de las posibilidades ofrecidas por dichos juegos. Luego, se definieron los requerimientos del juego serio a diseñar en función de los aspectos de éxito de otros juegos relacionados al objetivo del propuesto aquí, y también en base a los aspectos aún no contemplados en estos antecedentes revisados. Seguidamente, se realizó el diseño y la implementación del juego serio AstroCódigo, a partir de los requerimientos determinados. Se realizaron sesiones de prueba del juego con alumnos en un escenario educativo concreto, considerando como ejes de evaluación: la usabilidad, posibilidades para la adquisición de habilidades relacionadas a la programación y la motivación intrínseca durante su utilización. Por último, se procedió al análisis de los resultados obtenidos en las sesiones y a la planificación de una propuesta de mejoras.Tesis con doble grado alcanzado: Licenciado en Sistemas y Licenciado en Informática.Facultad de Informátic

Enabling peer-to-peer remote experimentation in distributed online remote laboratories

Remote Access Laboratories (RALs) are online platforms that allow human user interaction with physical instruments over the Internet. Usually RALs follow a client-server paradigm. Dedicated providers create and maintain experiments and corresponding educational content. In contrast, this dissertation focuses on a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) service model for RALs where users are encouraged to host experiments at their location. This approach can be seen as an example of an Internet of Things (IoT) system. A set of smart devices work together providing a cyber-physical interface for users to run experiments remotely via the Internet. The majority of traditional RAL learning activities focus on undergraduate education where hands-on experience such as building experiments, is not a major focus. In contrast this work is motivated by the need to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education for school-aged children. Here physically constructing experiments forms a substantial part of the learning experience. In the proposed approach, experiments can be designed with relatively simple components such as LEGO Mindstorms or Arduinos. The user interface can be programed using SNAP!, a graphical programming tool. While the motivation for the work is educational in nature, this thesis focuses on the technical details of experiment control in an opportunistic distributed environment. P2P RAL aims to enable any two random participants in the system - one in the role of maker creating and hosting an experiment and one in the role of learner using the experiment - to establish a communication session during which the learner runs the remote experiment through the Internet without requiring a centralized experiment or service provider. The makers need to have support to create the experiment according to a common web based programing interface. Thus, the P2P approach of RALs requires an architecture that provides a set of heterogeneous tools which can be used by makers to create a wide variety of experiments. The core contribution of this dissertation is an automaton-based model (twin finite state automata) of the controller units and the controller interface of an experiment. This enables the creation of experiments based on a common platform, both in terms of software and hardware. This architecture enables further development of algorithms for evaluating and supporting the performance of users which is demonstrated through a number of algorithms. It can also ensure the safety of instruments with intelligent tools. The proposed network architecture for P2P RALs is designed to minimise latency to improve user satisfaction and learning experience. As experiment availability is limited for this approach of RALs, novel scheduling strategies are proposed. Each of these contributions has been validated through either simulations, e.g. in case of network architecture and scheduling, or test-bed implementations, in case of the intelligent tools. Three example experiments are discussed along with users' feedback on their experience of creating an experiment and using others’ experimental setup. The focus of the thesis is mainly on the design and hosting of experiments and ensuring user accessibility to them. The main contributions of this thesis are in regards to machine learning and data mining techniques applied to IoT systems in order to realize the P2P RALs system. This research has shown that a P2P architecture of RALs can provide a wide variety of experimental setups in a modular environment with high scalability. It can potentially enhance the user-learning experience while aiding the makers of experiments. It presents new aspects of learning analytics mechanisms to monitor and support users while running experiments, thus lending itself to further research. The proposed mathematical models are also applicable to other Internet of Things applications