Investigating the Learning Impact of Game-based Learning when Teaching Science to Children with Special Learning Needs

International audienceIn an attempt to find solutions to the current challenges faced by children with special needs, new teaching and learning methodologies that make us of various technologies such as 3D computer based games, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality enhanced learning have been proposed to be used in the classroom. The technology can enhance the lives of children with learning disabilities and gives then options of intervening in their various educational and cognitive problems. The paper presents a research study on learner experience when a new interactive educational 3D video game called Final Frontier, was used in a secondary school from Romania by children with hearing impairment. Pre-and Post-tests results analysis has shown that the game helped the children to acquire knowledge on the Solar system. It was also noticed that an interactive game-based learning approach is more suitable for children with disabilities than an interactive exploratory based digital library method

Mulsemedia in Telecommunication and Networking Education: A Novel Teaching Approach that Improves the Learning Process

The advent and increased use of new technologies, such as innovative mulsemedia and multi-modal content distribution mechanisms, have brought new challenges and diverse opportunities for technology enhanced learning (TEL). NEWTON is a Horizon 2020 European project that revolutionizes the educational process through innovative TEL methodologies and tools, integrated in a pan-European STEM-related learning network platform. This article focuses on one of these novel TEL methodologies (i.e., mulsemedia) and presents how NEWTON enables mulsemedia- enhanced teaching and learning of STEM subjects, with a particular focus on telecommunication and networking related modules. The article also discusses the very promising results of NEWTON case studies carried out with engineering students across two different universities in Spain and Ireland, respectively. The case studies focused on analyzing the impact on the learning process of the mulsemedia-enhanced teaching in the context of telecommunication and networking modules. The main conclusion of the article is that mulsemedia-enhanced education significantly increases students' learning experience and improves their knowledge gain

An Investigation into the Suitability of Modern Technologies and Pedagogies for Teaching Children with Neuromotor Disorders: Teachers’ Perspectives

This research paper presents a survey-based investigation into the benefits and limitations of Self-Directed Learning, Gamification and Augmented Reality -based teaching approaches when teaching children with neuromotor disabilities. An analysis of the survey’s answers provided by 34 teachers shows that the main advantages that teachers underlined, for all three modern teaching approaches considered in this study, were primarily those related to increased access to information for students with neuromotor disabilities, increased motivation for learning by the fact that they create a less formal environment for learning, which takes place in a relaxed and playful atmosphere. Some of the most commonly mentioned limitations are: students' limited access to technology, their limited ability to handle the devices, difficulties in understanding how these technologies work, and the risk of focusing on non essential elements in learning process. However, the teachers stated that many of these limitations can be exceeded by providing additional support from teachers

Modeling the Vibratory Compaction Process for Roads

This paper presents results obtained for the vibratory compaction process of road structures, in which the natural soil is used for the foundation infrastructure. The experiments and the optimization of the compaction process were carried out on five road lanes in Transilvania, Romania. A self-propelled single-drum roller compactor, BOMAG BW 213 S-5, was used for the compaction, layer by layer, with six successive passes over each layer. For each layer, the initial degree of compaction was measured, and after the fifth pass, it achieved the value prescribed in the road construction project. After each pass over the same layer, its settlement increased due to the plastic deformation and the soil’s rigidity receiving discrete higher values. This is how five different discrete values for rigidity were obtained. Modeling the compaction process is carried out using the Kelvin–Voigt model, with discrete variable experimental values for soil rigidity and assumed constant viscous damping values. Based on the two-degree-of-freedom linear elastic model, graphs were plotted for vibration amplitude variation and for the force transmitted to the soil when the excitation pulsation varies continuously and the soil rigidity varies discretely. There is a relationship between the initial and final degree of compaction values in the ratio that was proven to be dependent on the ratio of amplitude values corresponding to the final and initial roller passes cycle. The result is a useful relationship for the “in-situ” estimation of the compaction process effect. The novelty of this research is that it demonstrates the change in soil rigidity values after each pass of the vibratory roller and, thus, the increase of its settlement (plastic deformation) and the “slipping” for the amplitude resonance peak by discrete increasing values. Calibration of the resonance vibrations regime in accordance with the degree of compaction determined by geotechnical methods for “in-situ” sample prelevation stands as a fast and efficient method for the evaluation of the final degree of compaction value. This is, implicitly, the method for estimating the number of vibratory roller passes in the road construction project. In conclusion, the novelty of the research consists in the fact that, through using the resonance response of the vibratory roller, a correlation was made with the degree of compaction achieved after each pass

Dynamic Response of the Inertial Platform of the Laser ELI-NP Magurele-Bucharest Facility

Previous studies on the vibrational behavior of the inertial platform installed at ELI-NP, in Magurele-Bucharest have reported eigenfrequencies in the domain in which excitations can occur from earthquakes which manifests itself periodically in this geographical area. The paper aimed to study the vibrational response that may occur, due to human activities or natural phenomena (earthquakes), at the inertial platform of the Laser + Gamma building within the ELI-NP complex. The large mass of the platform, 54,000 tons in full condition, must ensure that the experiments are carried out without being disturbed by unwanted vibrations. The laser and gamma beam must be very precisely positioned and the shocks and vibration from the external environment must be damped or absorbed. To realize this, the behavior of the inertial concrete platform at external excitations was studied based on a model with finite elements. The response to the forced vibrations of the platform and the possible behavior in case of an earthquake were obtained