Student Reciprocal Peer Teaching as a Method for Active Learning: An Experience in an Electrotechnical Laboratory

Active learning is one of the most efficient mechanisms for learning, according to the psychology of learning. When students act as teachers for other students, the communication is more fluent and knowledge is transferred easier than in a traditional classroom. This teaching method is referred to in the literature as reciprocal peer teaching. In this study, the method is applied to laboratory sessions of a higher education institution course, and the students who act as teachers are referred to as ‘‘laboratory monitors.’’ A particular way to select the monitors and its impact in the final marks is proposed. A total of 181 students participated in the experiment, experiences with laboratory monitors are discussed, and methods for motivating and training laboratory monitors and regular students are proposed. The types of laboratory sessions that can be led by classmates are discussed. This work is related to the changes in teaching methods in the Spanish higher education system, prompted by the Bologna Process for the construction of the European Higher Education Are

Development of formal dynamic models with Microsoft Excel for greenhouse climate control.

Simple climate models performed with a widespread computer tool (Microsoft® Excel) could be useful for researchers or even greenhouse growers. A model of this type was used in three independent studies (heating, ventilation and cooling). The error in the calculation of temperature was lower than 2.5 ºC, and the error in the calculation of relative humidity was lower than 9%, in the validation of the model. The main advantage of the method of modelling is the possibility of fitting the coefficients with the tool SOLVER of Microsoft® Excel in each greenhouse, an easy method for both scientist and growers

Estudio de motivación del profesorado del departamento de Ingeniería Rural de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Se ha realizado un estudio de la motivación del profesorado de un departamento de una universidad española respecto a los cambios propuestos por el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Los datos se recogieron mediante un cuestionario anónimo. El análisis de los resultados pone de manifiesto que los aspectos considerados más deficientemente por parte del profesorado son factores externos al departamento, como el reconocimiento de la actividad docente y las carencias tanto en formación como en los medios de apoyo a la gestión. Por otra parte, se muestra que el grado de satisfacción en relación a los factores de motivación endógena es elevado, debido a la gran vocación para el desempeño de las labores del profesor universitario. Las conclusiones obtenidas en cuestionarios similares realizados a los departamentos podrían servir para replantear los aspectos que indican negativamente sobre la motivación del profesorado. Puesto que los factores más problemáticos son los de naturaleza exógena, deberían ser las universidades las responsables de realizar este tipo de estudios

Experimental results and modelling of humidity control strategies from greenhouses in continental and coastal setting in the Mediterranean regíon. I : Experimental results and model development.

Experimental strategies for controlling humidity were compared in a greenhouse sited in Madrid, a continental site in the Mediterranean region. Small roof window apertures significantly reduced the relative humidity with only a limited increase in associated energy consumption. A simplified climate model with four energy exchange terms (heating, insolation, losses through structure, and losses through windows) and three mass exchange terms (evapotranspiration, losses through structure, and losses through windows) was validated, allowing relative humidity to be predicted with an error of < 9%. - Se ensayaron una serie de estrategias experimentales para el control de la humedad en un invernadero de Madrid, España. Se comprobó que pequeñas aperturas de la ventana cenital reducían significativamente el nivel de humedad con limitados incrementos del consumo de energía en calefacción. Se validó un modelo climático simplificado con cuatro términos de intercambio de energía (calefacción, radiación solar, pérdidas a través de la cubierta y pérdidas a través de las ventanas) y tres términos de intercambio de humedad (evapotranspiración, pérdidas a través de la cubierta y pérdidas a través de las ventanas), modelo que permitió predecir la humedad relativa con un error inferior al 9%

Effect of increasing temperatures on cooling systems. Livestock farms: a case of study

We developed a methodology to evaluate the changes in cooling technologies of agricultural buildings derived from different scenarios of global climate change. Four 2080s scenarios were analysed for 6 European locations, using as a case study fattening pig farms and 3 cooling technologies: natural and forced ventilation, and cooling pads. The climate scenarios were constructed as a combination of general circulation models (Had CM2 and ECHAM4) downscaled for Europe with the HIRHAM and RCA3 regional models and driven by the A2 and B2 socio-economic scenarios. A steady-state heat balance model was used for the energy analysis in the livestock farms. The results showed that no changes in cooling technologies are necessary in the Mediterranean Basin; cooling pads were efficient enough for adequate climatisation both in the present and future scenarios. In northern European locations results were different, depending on the future scenario. Most scenarios indicated that cooling pads will be needed in fattening pig farms in the 2080s, while ventilation is efficient enough in the present scenario. The economic consequences will be important, as the costs associated with cooling pads are much higher than the costs of natural or forced ventilatio

Participación del Alumnado como Monitor de Prácticas

El aprendizaje activo es uno de los principios de la psicología del aprendizaje, que dice que “los alumnos pueden aprender más y mejor con una atención más personalizada” . Un mecanismo para motivar al alumnado, a la vez que de conseguir una comunicación más fluida, es que otros alumnos, previamente adiestrados, les transmitan los conocimientos a través de prácticas de laboratorio

Experimental evaluation of a radiant heated floor coupled to an air-to-water heat pump for the cooling of greenhouses

This paper describes the experimental cooling of a greenhouse in Madrid (Spain) using a radiant heated floor (RHF) coupled to an air-water heat pump (HP). Two cooling scenarios were studied over the summers of 2005 and 2006: natural ventilation + a shading screen (control system), and natural ventilation + a shading screen + an RHF (concrete) coupled to an air-water heat pump (i.e., in cooling mode; nominal power, 34.1 W m–2). Using the difference between the outside and inside air temperatures, it was concluded that at 0.5 m above the floor the RHF system reduced the temperature by 1.1°C in 2005 and 0.8°C in 2006. Both cooling scenarios were compared with other cooling technologies: the use of the natural ventilation + shading + RHF gave a smaller air temperature difference than fogging at a height equal to or lower than 0.5 m. A model based on the heat pump performance curves was constructed to predict its power consumption and good predictions of the variation over the day were obtained. The power consumption of the heat pump was 104.8 Wh m–2 d–1 (from 13:00 to 18:00 h) under our test conditions in Madrid. The RHF-HP system may only be appropriate for cooling greenhouses under certain circumstances, e.g., when growing high value crops or when cost is not a limiting factor, as its initial investment cost is about € 38 m–2

Double sweep tracer for I-V curves characterization and continuous monitoring of photovoltaic facilities

The good performance of solar photovoltaic energy facilities implies the previous evaluation of the electrical behaviour of the solar modules used. Among other ways, this evaluation can be done by means of the static voltage-current characteristic (I-V curve), but also through a real-time electrical parameters monitoring. This paper proposes the design of an I-V curve tracer with electronic load. The main advantages of the prototype are its reduced cost, scalability, wireless control and sampling rate. A PIC18F46K80 microprocessor was used for the design and construction of the prototype.The development of an Android app allows thecontrol of the prototype and the data acquisition from any mobile or tablet device. Additionally, the tracer can be con?gured for a continuous monitoring of the electrical parameters, temperature and irradiance

Implantación de un sistema de vídeo-tutoría basado en dudas frecuentes: vFAQ = Video-Tutoring System based in Frequently Asked Questions: vFAQ

La tutoría, es un recurso didáctico imprescindible en el proceso de aprendizaje. Con ella, el alumnado recibe una atención específica sobre dudas y problemas de comprensión concretos. Sin embargo, la atención personalizada de la duda ocurrida durante el proceso de aprendizaje autónomo fuera de aula se produce con un retraso cuando la tutoría se da de forma presencial. En este proyecto, se presentan los resultados preliminares de la implantación de las vFAQ en titulaciones de Graduado en Ingeniería. Estas consisten en la recopilación sistemática de vídeos que responden a dudas frecuentes, errores más comunes en ejercicios y pruebas de evaluación y descripciones metodológicas. Los resultados obtenidos muestran una relación directa entre el empleo de este recurso didáctico y la calificación final obtenida, sugiriendo que los vFAQ pueden ser una herramienta que mejore la participación del alumnado en las actividades de las asignaturas. ----------ABSTRACT---------- Tutoring is an essential didactic resource of the learning process, in which students can receive specific attention about particular doubts and understanding problems. However, the personalized assistance to the problems that occurred during the autonomous learning process outside of the classroom has a delay when the tutoring takes place in person. In this project, we describe the preliminary results of the implementation of the vFAQ in Graduate Degrees in Engineering. The vFAQ are a systematic collection of videos that respond to frequent doubts, most common errors in exercises and evaluation tests and methodological descriptions. The results obtained show a direct relationship between the use of this didactic resource and the final grade obtained, suggesting that vFAQ can be a tool that improves the involvement of students in the activities of the subjects