Volume 10 – Número 3 – PT

MODEBOTS: Environment for Programming Robots for Children Between the Ages of 4 and 6

Autores/as:

Ramírez-Benavides, Kryscia and Guerrero, Luis A.

Resumo:

Learning how to program in early age helps children to develop some capabilities as logical thinking, problem solving, and creativity. Incorporating robotics in programming children can help to learn in a concrete and funny way, collaborating with each other. The research project presented in this paper describes the first prototype that implements a programming environment for robots using mobile devices, for children in early childhood-4 to 6 years old. This prototype is fully functional and allows Bluetooth communication one by one. We expect that our research will contribute to human-computer interface field, providing a new nontraditional interface to support the learning process of programming in preschoolers.

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Remote Laboratory eLab3D: A Complementary Resource in Engineering Education

Autores/as:

López, Sergio and Carpeño, Antonio and Arriaga, Jesús

Resumo:

Experimental training is essential in developing the whole set of skills that an engineer must acquire. Therefore, any resource that involves an improvement in their practical training is an issue of interest to the academia. eLab3D is an electronics remote laboratory based on a configurable hardware and 3-D virtual world, that allows students to carry out real experiments with analog electronic circuits. This paper provides a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities Threats analysis of remote laboratories compiled from recent publications and presents some relevant results of the use of eLab3D in real educational contexts, the teachers' assessment of its potential and the students' perceived satisfaction.

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A Virtual Repository of Learning Objects to Support Literacy of SEN Children

Autores/as:

Jadán-Guerrero, Janio and Guerrero, Luis A.

Resumo:

Literacy development is an essential process for special education needs children. Otherwise, they will have additional difficulties in their daily life activities and hence their social inclusion. It is a big challenge for parents and teachers, but it is easier if the process begins since childhood. In this paper, we present Tic@ula, a virtual repository for creating, centralizing, and sharing learning objects based on the IEEE learning object metadata standard. The framework aims to enhance the adaptation of the resources for literacy to the Costa Rican reality and extend its application to children with moderate intellectual disability. The educational resources are based on the literacy method proposed by Spanish authors in their book Down Syndrome: Reading and Writing. The method and the resources were evaluated in a case study. The preliminary results showed that the method cannot only be applied in local context but also assists teachers and parents in the design and use of literacy resources for special education.

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A Two-Stage Assessment of the Remote Engineering Lab VISIR at Al-Quds University in Palestine

Autores/as:

Odeh, Salaheddin and Alves, Joaquim and Alves, Gustavo Riberiro and Gustavsson, Ingvar and Anabtawi, Mahasen and Arafeh, Labib and Jazi, Mahran and Arekat, Mahmoud R.

Resumo:

Engineering labs are an essential part in engineering education, since they provide practical knowledge for students, illustrate concepts and principles, and improve technical skills. Remote labs allow devices, equipment, and instrumentations to be shared with other universities. In addition, they relax time and space constraints, and are capable of being adapted to the pace of each student; in the case, there was insufficient time in the laboratory. This paper describes an empirical study, which embeds two stages of assessment. In the first stage, we are concerned with finding out the level of flexibility when applying the engineering remote lab VISIR as a contemporary remote lab technology in the engineering faculty at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem in Palestine, and whether the engineering students will accept such technology to interact with in their future lab courses or not. In the second stage of the assessment study, a more in-depth comparative analysis will be carried out in order to have a categorization of VISIR in the landscape of the engineering labs, such as hands-on and simulations. The three lab approaches will be compared with each other by means of an experimental testing based on assessment criteria that are in accordance with the fundamental course objectives of engineering instructional labs: student's retention rate and satisfaction survey, as well as their performance.

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A Virtual Learning Environment for the Study of the Discovery of the Electron

Autores/as:

Takahashi, Eduardo Kojy and Cardoso, Dayane Carvalho and Neri, Hermes Gustavo Fernandes and Moura, Rener Martins and Gedraite, Rubens and Dantas, Adilmar Coelho and Pacheco, Maycon Junio Pereira and Borges, Pedro Henrique

Resumo:

This paper describes both the construction of a system to remotely access and control a didactic and real experiment to determine the charge-to-mass ratio of the electron, and the development of a virtual learning environment (VLE) in which the remote experiment is inserted. The experimental apparatus is similar to that used by Joseph John Thomson in 1897, which resulted in the discovery of the electron. The remote experiment can be accessed online from a personal computer or from a mobile device under Android operating system. Results of an experimental and remote determination of the charge-to-mass ratio of the electron are presented as well as an analysis of the VLE usability.

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