Cell spotting: Educational and motivational outcomes of cell biology citizen science project in the classroom

Success stories of citizen science projects widely demonstrate the value of this open science paradigm and encourage organizations to shift towards new ways of doing research. While benefits for researchers are clear, outcomes for individuals participating in these projects are not easy to assess. The wide spectrum of volunteers collaborating in citizen science projects greatly contributes to the difficulty in the evaluation of the projects'' outcomes. Given the strong links between many citizen science projects and education, in this work we present an experience with hundreds of students (aged 15-18) of two different countries who participate in a project on cell biology research-Cell Spotting-as part of their regular classroom activities. Apart from introducing the project and resources involved, we aim to provide an overview of the benefits of integrating citizen science in the context of formal science education and of what teachers and students may obtain from it. In this case, besides helping students to consolidate and apply theoretical concepts included in the school curriculum, some other types of informal learning have also been observed such as the feeling of playing a key role, which contributed to an increase of students'' motivation

Full Scale Prototyping – Logistic and Construction Challenges Realising Digitally Designed Timber Prototypes

This paper reports on the final stage of a research project with the realization of a real scale prototype and ties an empirical finale to the project, which started as a fundamental research project three years ago. The scope of this research project was to explore new ways, how Non-Standard Architecture can be build with standard building elements using contemporary building processes and materials resource efficiently. Mass Customization and File to Factory, concepts where a continuous digital workflow is applied, were fundamental to our approach. Within this framework we developed generic parametric details and made them part of the whole process from the beginning of the design to the manufacturing. The present paper describes a strategy for the assembly of a large prototype, consisting of approximately 50 flat timber panels that are being assembled to a structure of the size of a small house. The paper focuses especially on the customized falsework, we designed for the construction of the prototype, which became a crucial part of the assembling process besides the assembly of the actual prototype

From simulation games to smart learning systems

Klat W, Gerholz K-H, Stummer C. From simulation games to smart learning systems. In: Kriz WC, Eiselen T, Manahl W, eds. The Shift from Teaching to Learning: Individual, Collective and Organizational Learning Through Gaming Simulation; Proceedings of the 45th Conference of the International Simulation and Gaming Association (ISAGA). Bielefeld: Bertelsmann; 2014: 288-300