EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY: LEARNING BY HANDS-ON LABORATORY EXPERIENCES

1. EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY: LEARNING BY HANDS-ON LABORATORY EXPERIENCES Eleonora Bilotta, Francesca Bertacchini, Lorella Gabriele, Assunta Tavernise ESG group Università della Calabria (ITALY) bilotta@unical.it, fbertacchini@unical.it, lgabriele@unical.it, tavernise@unical.it

2. Aims • This work aims at analysing the arrangement of educational laboratories based on the use of advanced tools, involving students from grammar school to University. • In particular, the objective of these hands-on laboratories has been the learning of scientific topics starting from the manipulation of contents, real or virtual ones. • Both acceptation of technology and subject understanding have been tested.

3. Laboratories • Among the realized laboratories, we introduce the following: • Virtual Theatre Lab • Educational Robotics Lab • Chaos Lab

4. VIRTUAL THEATRE LABORATORY (VT) • In this case study, VT refers to one of the three interfaces of the Face3D software, ideated and realized by the Evolutionary Systems Group (ESG, http://galileo.cincom.unical.it/) at University of Calabria. The Face3D software

5. Virtualactors • In particular, Face3D interfaces are Face3DEditor (it allows the modelling of Talking Heads), Face3DRecorder (it allows the synchronization of facial movements with recorded files of speech), and the Virtual Theatre (VT), (it allows the recording of the performance in a digital environment). • Regarding virtual actors, they are Talking Heads, realized on the basis of characters of novels/theatrical works, the 3D reconstruction of famous personalities’ faces, or ancient Greek masks. Virtual reconstruction of ancient Greek masks

6. Technology acceptance • The experimentation have been carried out in two phases. • In the first one, VT has been showed to high school students and teachers by a live performance with “real” actors and Talking Heads. Then, a qualitative questionnaire on the possible use of the software in the school context has been administrated. Data derived from focus group questionnaires have been analyzed by a content analysis software (MAXQDA, <www.maxqda .com>), and results have been very positive.

7. Technology acceptance • In the second phase, two groups (20 high school students each) have attended a six-hour course on a literature lesson (“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare). The experimental group has: • arranged the script of the story in a group writing laboratory; • recorded the dialogues; • modelled the characters on the basis of the content to perform, using Face3DEditor; • synchronized the recorded files with the facial expressions, using Face3DRecorder; • created the performance, using the VT interface. • Afterwards, each subject has compiled the Questionnaire for User Interface Satisfaction, which measures users’ opinions on software utility, easiness of use and learning, satisfaction. Moreover, the learning of the experimental group has been compared to that of the group of control through a content questionnaire.

8. Some remarks on results • Results show that a very high percentage of the experimental group students has learned the totality of the content, answering correctly to the 100% of the proposed questions. Moreover, all the participants have been satisfied for the perceived enjoyment, and many students have declared to be happy to use again this tool, or a similar one, at school.

9. Educational Robotics Lab • In recent years, a number of laboratory tools has given great importance to the exploration/manipulation in the learning process . • Among these tools, the robot construction kits, designed according to Piaget and Vygotskij’stheories, play an important role. • Many studies have considered Robotics as a motivating and engaging technology, able to stimulate young generations to learn scientific topics. A great number of experiments have also been achieved, from primary school to University students.

10. Materials • The educational activities have been implemented using the Lego MindStorms Robotics Invention System kit (version 1.5), that includes: • over 700 Lego pieces (traditional bricks), • the MindStorms RCX (Robotics Command System), • infrared transmitter, • light and touch sensors, • motors, gears, • the RIS (Robotics Invention System) software, and • a building guide “Constructopedia” (which helps users to build their Lego robot). • The core of the Robotics system is the RCX, an autonomous Lego micro-computer that can be programmed without particular programming skills. The RCX is like the “brain” of the robot; it uses sensors (e.g., touch and light) to receive inputs from the environment, it processes data, through the program, and then, as output, the robot operates autonomously in the environment.

11. Sample Objective • The researchactivitesinvolvedtwodifferentclasses of a primaryschool of Rende (Cosenza, Italy): • 33 children (14 male and 19 female), agedbetweennine and teen years, thatattended the fifthclass of primaryschool. • The activitiescarried out during the educational Robotics Lab have the aim to investigate the different cognitive strategiesadopted by children in designing, building and in programming a Lego Robot.

12. Lab organization

13. Some remarks on results • Pupils attended the laboratory twice a week, for two hours. • All the activities have been introduced in a playful and enjoyable way, using also multimedia materials. • During all the activities children have been invited to express their opinions and their doubts, stimulating their critical thinking and improving their learning. • Activities have been carried out in different contexts: the didactic activities in the classroom and the manipulation sessions in the school common area. Finally, the school computer area has been used for the programming activities.

14. Some remarks on results • Obtained results have been satisfactory, since all groups solved the goal through cooperation and exchange of knowledge. • We perceived that the task enhanced the student’s motivation, especially when they observed that the robot worked according to the assignment. • Hence, students, through the learning-by-doing approach, not only built the robot, but they also improve their cognitive abilities adopting problem solving strategies and creative planning. All these strategies have been useful to create the robot’s behavior. Social exchange of knowledge and cooperation have also been observed in the group behavior.

15. Examples of robots developed by students

16. CHAOS LABORATORY • The aim of this laboratory has been dissemination of scientific issues through the construction of the Chua circuit, its computer simulation and translation of chaotic attractors in sound, music and 3D images. • Starting from Chaos (one of the most important topic of contemporary research), a non-conventional didactic environment in which art and science meet and cause an effective Edutainment (educational entertainment) has been planned.

17. CHAOS LABORATORY • As a starting point, it has been considered that Information and Communication Technologies could become cognitive amplifiers for supporting the educational process and the approaching of young generation to scientific topics. • It has also been considered that the experience of the beauty, simplicity and creativity of Digital Art could allow a lightening of the difficulty of scientific topics, as well as the comprehension of the scientific concepts of Chaos and the Chua's circuit functioning A repository of 3D images, coming from the Chua’s circuit, and the lab’s activities can be found at the following web site: http://Chua.unical.it.

18. The Chua's circuit • The Chua's circuit is a non linear dynamical circuit that has assumed a paradigmatic role in the mathematical, physical and experimental demonstration of Chaos. • Complexity and Chaos are seen as challenging topics reserved for specialists. Is it possible for young people to acquire concepts as difficult as Chaos? • In order to investigate this issue, we have developed a tree steps teaching/learning method, in which student have manually built the Chua's circuit, using it as a source of creation for extraordinary images, sound and and music. Chua’s circuit and its components. http://chua.unical.it/

19. The pilotstudy • In this pilot study, 50 teachers and 60 students have been involved. • First, a course for teachers has been carried out: • questionnaires have been administrated in order to deeply understand the teachers’ degree of computer literacy, expectations, and potential problems. • Then, teachers, together with the researchers, proposed a didactic package to two classes of 60 students. • Students have been motivated to build the Chua’s circuit, as well as virtually manipulate attractors, translating them into sound, music and images by a software application, realized by ESG group, at the University of Calabria, Italy.

20. The teaching/learning method: • The teaching/learning method allows to: • build the Chua’s circuit and visualize its chaotic behavior, with a simulated oscilloscope; • simulate chaos by using the specific visualization environment; • understand the beauty, simplicity and creativity of chaotic behavior, by sound, music and images.

21. Some remarks on results • By exploring and modeling the patterns of Chua’s attractors, students transform mathematical models into sound and music and images. • The hands-on activity provides a new, creative and enjoyable approach to science learning. • Direct interaction with the virtual objects encourages learners to think, to formulate hypotheses and to test them through the experimentation.

22. Conclusions • Results of all laboratories have shown that participative and Edutainment (education associated to entertainment) experiences can remarkably enhance students’ learning efficiency. • Moreover, it has been demonstrated that this kind of hands-on activities can be very important in school context, not only for topics such as Physics and Science, usually linked to laboratory practice, but also for Literature and Philosophy.

23. http://galileo.cincom.unical.it/ http://Chua.unical.it