Integration of an object formalism within a hybrid dynamic simulation environment

PrODHyS is a general object-oriented environment which provides common and reusable components designed for the development and the management of dynamic simulation of systems engineering. Its major characteristic is its ability to simulate processes described by a hybrid model. In this framework, this paper focuses on the "Object Differential Petri Net" (ODPN) formalism integrated within PrODHyS. The use of this formalism is illustrated through a didactic example relating to the field of Chemical Process System Engineering (PSE)

Plasduino: an inexpensive, general purpose data acquisition framework for educational experiments

Based on the Arduino development platform, Plasduino is an open-source data acquisition framework specifically designed for educational physics experiments. The source code, schematics and documentation are in the public domain under a GPL license and the system, streamlined for low cost and ease of use, can be replicated on the scale of a typical didactic lab with minimal effort. We describe the basic architecture of the system and illustrate its potential with some real-life examples.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, presented at the XCIX conference of the Societ\`a Italiana di Fisic

The effectiveness of "Learning by doing" as a strategy that uses the elaboration of didactic material done by the learners

Tesis (Pedagogía en Inglés)Nowadays, the instruction of vocabulary on the acquisition and learning of English as a second language is important and it has been recognized as a relevant aspect by academics and theoreticians of the area. The aim of this study is to prove, through a concrete and an experimental form, the effectiveness of the constructivist strategy that uses the elaboration of didactic material as an improvement manner for the acquisition and learning of explicit vocabulary that, at the same time, may be meaningful to the pupils. The “Learning by Doing” strategy has been built under the perspective of the theory of constructivism, which has been adapted to be applied on two different educational establishments; both subsidized. The first school is located in El Belloto and the second school institution located in Villa Alemana. Accordingly, the thesis study was carried out on 5 different courses with a final average of 132 students. This inquiry has a quantitative nature with a quasi – experimental design that has as a sample a paired – dependent kind, which took into account the control subunits and the experimental subunits from each EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom where the strategy previously mentioned was conducted. As described on the previous paragraph, the results were analyzed using a mathematical – statistical type of measurement denominated “T – Test” table. These demonstrated that the constructivist strategy namely “Learning by Doing” improve the learning of explicit vocabulary on those grades belonging to the primary education. Nowadays, the instruction of vocabulary on the acquisition and learning of English as a second language is important and it has been recognized as a relevant aspect by academics and theoreticians of the area. The aim of this study is to prove, through a concrete and an experimental form, the effectiveness of the constructivist strategy that uses the elaboration of didactic material as an improvement manner for the acquisition and learning of explicit vocabulary that, at the same time, may be meaningful to the pupils. The “Learning by Doing” strategy has been built under the perspective of the theory of constructivism, which has been adapted to be applied on two different educational establishments; both subsidized. The first school is located in El Belloto and the second school institution located in Villa Alemana. Accordingly, the thesis study was carried out on 5 different courses with a final average of 132 students. This inquiry has a quantitative nature with a quasi – experimental design that has as a sample a paired – dependent kind, which took into account the control subunits and the experimental subunits from each EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom where the strategy previously mentioned was conducted. As described on the previous paragraph, the results were analyzed using a mathematical – statistical type of measurement denominated “T – Test” table. These demonstrated that the constructivist strategy namely “Learning by Doing” improve the learning of explicit vocabulary on those grades belonging to the primary education.En la actualidad, la instrucción del vocabulario es importante para la adquisición y aprendizaje del inglés como segunda lengua. Esto ha sido reconocido como un aspecto relevante por académicos y teóricos del área. El objetivo de esta investigación es probar a través de una forma concreta y experimental la efectividad de una estrategia que usa la elaboración de material didáctico como manera de mejorar la adquisición y el aprendizaje del vocabulario explícito, y que éste a su vez sea significativo para el alumno. La estrategia “Learning by Doing” ha sido construida bajo la perspectiva de la teoría del constructivismo, la cual ha sido adaptada para ser aplicada en dos establecimientos educacionales diferentes, ambos subvencionados. El primero situado en El Belloto y el segundo ubicado en Villa Alemana. Por consiguiente, esta investigación se realizó en 5 cursos diferentes con un promedio final de 132 alumnos. Esta investigación tiene una naturaleza cuantitativa con un diseño cuasi – experimental y tiene como muestra un tipo dependiente y pareado, la cual tomó en consideración las subunidades controles y las subunidades experimentales de cada clase “EFL” en donde la estrategia previamente mencionada fue llevada a cabo. Según lo descrito en el párrafo anterior, los resultados fueron analizados usando un tipo de medición matemático – estadística denominada tabla “T – Test”. Éstos demostraron que la estrategia constructivista nombrada “Learning by Doing” mejoró el aprendizaje de vocabulario explícito en aquellos cursos pertenecientes a la educación general básica. Sin embargo, el curso perteneciente a la enseñanza media no mostró ninguna señal de mejoramiento cuando la estrategia que usa la elaboración de material didáctico llegó a su fin

A game based approach to improve traders' decision-making

Purpose: The development of a game based approach to improving the decision-making capabilities of financial traders through attention to improving the regulation of emotions during trading. Design/methodology/approach: The project used a design-based research approach to integrate the contributions of a highly inter-disciplinary team. The approach was underpinned by considerable stakeholder engagement to understand the ‘ecology of practices’ in which this learning approach should be embedded. Findings: Taken together, our 35 laboratory, field and evaluation studies provide much support for the validity of our game based learning approach, the learning elements which make it up, and the value of designing game-based learning to fit within an ecology of existing practices. Originality/value: The novelty of the work described in the paper comes from the focus in this research project of combining knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines informed by a deep understanding of the context of application to achieve the successful development of a Learning Pathway, which addresses the transfer of learning to the practice environment Key words: Design-based research, emotion-regulation, disposition–effect, financial traders, serious games, sensor-based game

Dialogical identities in students from cultural minorities or students categorised as presenting SEN: How do they shape learning, namely in mathematics?

Portuguese schools are multicultural. Diversity is their main characteristic. Portuguese policy documents assume inclusive principles (Ainscow & César, 2006). Students categorised as presenting Special Educational Needs (SEN) attend mainstream schools. Multiculturality and diversity are challenges to the educational system. We assume that teachers need to (re)construct the curricula, conceiving it as a mediating tool (César & Oliveira, 2005). Collaborative work facilitate students’ knowledge appropriation, the development of competencies (Elbers & de Haan, 2005), and the emergence of a learning community (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Students can be empowered and (re)construct their identities, including students whose voices are usually silenced. Identities are conceived as dialogical and conflictive (Hermans, 2001), particularly when the students’ cultures are far away from the school’s cultures, and transitions between them are difficult (César, 2003). These data are from the Interaction and Knowledge project whose main goal was to study and promote collaborative work in formal educational settings. It lasted 12 years, including classes all over the country (5th - 12th grades, 9/10 - 17/18 years old). It had two levels: (1) quasi experimental studies where different types of dyads were studied (César, 1994; Carvalho, 2001); (2) action-research studies based on interpretative/qualitative approaches, inspired in ethnographic methods; collaborative work was implemented during at least a school year (César & Santos, 2006). A ten years follow up was implemented. The cases in discussion were from two 9th grade classes, in two schools near Lisbon. Participant observation (different observers, including external evaluators; audio and/or videotaped), questionnaires, interviews, instruments inspired in projective tasks, students’ protocols and several documents were the data collecting instruments. The data analysis was a systematic and recurrent content analysis. The inductive categories and the interpretations that emerged were then discussed among the participants and by the project research group. The results illuminate that collaborative work and being part of a learning community can be powerful tools that allow students to (re)construct their identities, namely their identity as (mathematics) students. Collaborative work empowered students and had an impact in their life paths even many years after leaving the project. The participants’ accounts illuminate the role of teachers’ practices in their identities, as well as the conflicts these students had to face, namely the ones related to their cultures and to the experiences related to their categorisation as presenting SEN. Learning how to deal with these conflicts is an essential step to school achievement and to avoid exclusion

DIGITAL: multidisciplinary and multidimensional in the classrooms

In this paper our aim is to analyse and present some pedagogical paths that prefigure and guide the teaching-learning devices developed "around" the digital tools. In this context issues related to the implementation with teaching methodologies and teaching techniques acquire a new dimension due to the need of transpose them into online learning environments (technologies to teach to technologies to learn). This starting point is a deep understanding from the analysis of actors in the online learning process: student, teacher, platform and e- contents. Thus, it is our goal in this chapter to promote digital education, think of teaching methods, tools and learning processes, to adapted to eLearninginfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio