Hands-on Science

In the Society of our days there is a major increasing need of an in depth quality education in Science and Technology. Science teaching at school should be generalised aiming not only the sound establishment of a “Science” culture in our societies but also to guarantee a steady basis for the improvement of Science and its technological applications. Urgent actions should be taken in this direction. By initiative of the author the “Hands-on Science” (H-Sci) network was created. The European Commission under the program Socrates, Comenius 3 action (project nº. 110157-CP-1-2003-1-PT-COMENIUS-C3) supports the network

Computing in Education: A study of computing in education and ways to enhance students’ perceptions and understanding of computing

There is a huge demand for computing skills in industry due to computing becoming ubiquitous and essential for modern life. Yet despite this, industry struggles to find employees with suitable computing skills and similarly Further and Higher Education institutions have observed a lack of interest in their computing courses in recent years. This study looks at possible reasons for this lack of interest in computing, how computing is taught in education and ways to improve students’ perceptions and understanding of computing. It focuses around a case study of a university outreach event for secondary schools which investigated how interactive teaching methods can be used to enhance students’ perceptions and understanding of computing and to increase their computing knowledge. It includes the use of physical computing and was designed to make computing fun, motivational and relevant, and to provide examples of real-world applications. Surveys were used before and after the event to understand what students’ impressions and knowledge of computing is and to see if the event improved these. Observations were also used to see how well the students handled the event’s content and whether they appeared to enjoy and understand it. Results from the case study indicate that interactive teaching methods enhance computing education, and physical computing with electronics can enhance lessons and show the relevance of computing with examples of real-world applications, and can be fun and motivational. The case study provides teachers with example tasks and challenges they can use with their students and/or ideas around other interactive teaching methods including practical computing

Responsible research and innovation in science education: insights from evaluating the impact of using digital media and arts-based methods on RRI values

The European Commission policy approach of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is gaining momentum in European research planning and development as a strategy to align scientific and technological progress with socially desirable and acceptable ends. One of the RRI agendas is science education, aiming to foster future generations' acquisition of skills and values needed to engage in society responsibly. To this end, it is argued that RRI-based science education can benefit from more interdisciplinary methods such as those based on arts and digital technologies. However, the evidence existing on the impact of science education activities using digital media and arts-based methods on RRI values remains underexplored. This article comparatively reviews previous evidence on the evaluation of these activities, from primary to higher education, to examine whether and how RRI-related learning outcomes are evaluated and how these activities impact on students' learning. Forty academic publications were selected and its content analysed according to five RRI values: creative and critical thinking, engagement, inclusiveness, gender equality and integration of ethical issues. When evaluating the impact of digital and arts-based methods in science education activities, creative and critical thinking, engagement and partly inclusiveness are the RRI values mainly addressed. In contrast, gender equality and ethics integration are neglected. Digital-based methods seem to be more focused on students' questioning and inquiry skills, whereas those using arts often examine imagination, curiosity and autonomy. Differences in the evaluation focus between studies on digital media and those on arts partly explain differences in their impact on RRI values, but also result in non-documented outcomes and undermine their potential. Further developments in interdisciplinary approaches to science education following the RRI policy agenda should reinforce the design of the activities as well as procedural aspects of the evaluation research

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

Middle School Student Attitudes Towards Robotics, Science and Technology

In 2000, the National Science Foundation (NSF) conducted a biennial study on the status of women and minorities in science and engineering. It was revealed that the numbers of women receiving bachelor\u27s degrees in computer science are on the decline. This fact calls for innovative changes in the traditional science curriculum. Science instruction with the implementation of robotics could provide female students the needed motivation. Therefore, the examination of female middle school student attitudes towards robotic enhanced science instruction is needed. Descriptive research was conducted to assess middle school student attitudes towards robots, technology and science. Gender differences were studied. The subjects were two classrooms of sixth grade students (N=53) and eighth grade students (N=74) from Charleston, Illinois. Observational checklists were completed to examine student behavior in the science classroom. A Likert-type questionnaire consisting of 20 items was administered to the male and female students to obtain their perceptions towards robotics and technology and to explore if gender differences existed in their responses. A Cronbach\u27s [alpha] analysis was applied to the data to measure reliability and Pearson chi-square and independent sample t-test analyses were used to compare genders. Finally, interviews were conducted with female middle school students (N= 8) to obtain in-depth information on their perceptions and attitudes towards robots, technology and the science. Results showed that middle school students exhibited positive attitudes towards robots, careers in robotics, science and technology. In many respects, female student attitudes were more positive than their male counter parts. Due to the motivation robotics enhanced instruction provides as well as the subtle way robotic implementation teaches computer programming, mathematics and creative problem solving, it is recommended that activities incorporating robotics be a part of every science curriculum

Middle School Student Attitudes Towards Robotics, Science and Technology

In 2000, the National Science Foundation (NSF) conducted a biennial study on the status of women and minorities in science and engineering. It was revealed that the numbers of women receiving bachelor\u27s degrees in computer science are on the decline. This fact calls for innovative changes in the traditional science curriculum. Science instruction with the implementation of robotics could provide female students the needed motivation. Therefore, the examination of female middle school student attitudes towards robotic enhanced science instruction is needed. Descriptive research was conducted to assess middle school student attitudes towards robots, technology and science. Gender differences were studied. The subjects were two classrooms of sixth grade students (N=53) and eighth grade students (N=74) from Charleston, Illinois. Observational checklists were completed to examine student behavior in the science classroom. A Likert-type questionnaire consisting of 20 items was administered to the male and female students to obtain their perceptions towards robotics and technology and to explore if gender differences existed in their responses. A Cronbach\u27s [alpha] analysis was applied to the data to measure reliability and Pearson chi-square and independent sample t-test analyses were used to compare genders. Finally, interviews were conducted with female middle school students (N= 8) to obtain in-depth information on their perceptions and attitudes towards robots, technology and the science. Results showed that middle school students exhibited positive attitudes towards robots, careers in robotics, science and technology. In many respects, female student attitudes were more positive than their male counter parts. Due to the motivation robotics enhanced instruction provides as well as the subtle way robotic implementation teaches computer programming, mathematics and creative problem solving, it is recommended that activities incorporating robotics be a part of every science curriculum