IEEE TISP11; Toronto April 28-29, 2011 C REATING E XCITMENT ABOUT L EARNING (AND T EACHING) Witold Kinsner Cognitive Systems Laboratory Department of Electrical.

IEEE TISP11; TorontoApril 28-29, 2011

CREATING EXCITMENTABOUT LEARNING

(AND TEACHING)

Witold KinsnerCognitive Systems Laboratory

Department of Electrical and Computer EngineeringUniversity of Manitoba

Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3T 5V6and the Institute of Industrial Mathematical Sciences,

and the Experimental Media Research Group,and Telecommunications Research Laboratories, TRLabs

<[email protected]>

TISP11, Toronto; Apr 28-29, 2011© W. Kinsner; v.32– 2 of 42 –

Motivation (1/2) Enrollment in universities has dropped.

Many parents think that there are no jobs in Canada.

How do we attract students to:

– Engineering– Computer– Electrical– Aerospace– Biomedical

– Technology– Sciences

How do we help to instillthe excitement and love of learning?


Methodology The traditional passive and active approaches to high-school outreach have

many merits– Presentations;– Competitions; and– Engineering Week and other special events.

Augmented approaches should also be applied– Hands-on workshops (in schools and universities);– Extended courses (e.g., amateur radio, bioinformatics, smart systems);– Symposia (e.g., Peguis First Nation Science & Engineering Symposium);– Teaching teachers workshops.

Is outreach to high schools too late?– Primary schools must be included;

– Tours to university labs;– MiniUniversity;– Enrichment programs (workshops; augmented courses);– New introductory interactive books (e.g, Gord Klimenko); and

– Parents and guardians should also be included.

This talk illustrates how goodthese approaches have been in Manitoba.


Outline of This Talk

Overview (just completed) – Motivation; methodology and feasibility

Attractors (Strange)– Traditional driving forces & activities– Special augmented activities– Multi-hub activities

Examples– Space Adventure Camp– Canadian Satellite Design Challenge– Near-Space Exploratorium– First Nation Science & Engineering Symposia– Mentorship– Teaching Teachers

Closing Remarks


Attractors: How Do We Attract Students? (1/4)

Traditional Driving Forces



Traditional Driving Forces



Traditional Activities



Special Activities



Multi-Hub Activities


Outline of This Talk

Overview– Motivation; methodology and feasibility

Attractors (Strange)– Traditional driving forces & activities– Special augmented activities– Multi-hub activities

Examples– Space Adventure Camp– Canadian Satellite Design Challenge– Near-Space Exploratorium– First Nation Science & Engineering Symposia– Mentorship– Teaching Teachers

Closing Remarks


Example 1: Space Adventure Camp (1/10)

Objective– To provide students (grade 9-11) with hands-on experience in

– Science,– Engineering, and– Technology.

Participants– Students;– Teachers;– Parents & friends.

Duration– One week in July (e.g., from Sun, July 17 to Sun, July 24, 2011);

Sponsors (20)– University of Manitoba;– Industry (e.g., Magellan Bristol, Boeing, Standard Aero);– Military (Aerospace School);– Organizations (e.g., Women in Science & Engineering).


Example 1: Space Adventure Camp: Contents (2/10)

Pre-Study Course (one month in advance)– Space environment;– Satellite design;– Orbital mechanics;– Satellite communications;– Satellite navigation;– Remote sensing from satellites; and– Spacelift.

Orientation Session (one day prior to the camp)– Registered students;– Parents and friends;– President of the university;– Aerospace industry representatives;– Government representatives;



Small Talks (15-min)– What is this camp all about?– What is astro science?– What is astro engineering?– What is space law?– What is space communications– Do I fit into all of it or part of it?

Workshops (several hours a day)– Rockets (building and launching);– Robotics (building and taking home);– Near-space balloon (launching and tracking);– “Foxhunting” (finding illegal transmitters in the field);– Satellite communnications through a ground station;– Experiments in space (Canadian Space Agency)– Simulation of space (company working with CSA)



Bigger Talks (45-min & videos)

– YES2 experiment;– Zero-gravity experiment (video);– Pico-satellite building experience;– Unmanned vehicles;– Experience from formula car competitions;– Large rockets (talk and launching).

Tours to Research Labs (several hours, two days)

– Robotics (medical purposes);– Biomedical (hands-on);– Rapid prototyping (design tools and 3D printing);– Nanofabrication facilities (clean room).


Example 1: Space Adventure Camp: Pics (5/10)

Using STK

• Docking to ISS



Launching Rockets



Larger Rockets

• Building a Robot



Larger Robots (tour)

• Driving a Formula Car (emulator)



Biomedical Lab (tour)

• Talking to Chris Hatfield



Zero-G Flight & Experiment


Example 2: Can. Satellite Des. Challenge (1/5)

Objective:– To develop a triple pico-satellite (10 x 10 x 30 cm), including its

– Design;– Implement;– Verify;– Test; and– Launch.



Start 2010 Completion 2012 Registered Students 78

– Engineering;– Sciences;– Business;– Arts.

Advisors 42– Academic 9– Aerospace 18– Industrial 9– Radio 3– Military 3– Student Government 2– Government 2– Community 1



All Stakeholders


Example 2: CSDC: Outreach Examples (4/5)

April 7, 2011 - Balmoral Hall Presentation– A team of 5 UMSATS students gave a lunch presentation on the

satellite project to a group of Grade 12 Physics and Chemistry students. The emphasis was on linking some of their courses to careers in the space industry in Manitoba.

April 27, 2011 - Marie-Anne-Gaboury School– A team of 6 UMSATS students will be making a half hour

presentation to a class of Grade 6 students who have just finished a unit on the solar system. The presentation links ideas about the planets and space to satellites.

April 29, 2011 - Maples Collegiate– A team of 3 UMSATS students will serve as judges for the

Canadian National Marsville Program Link-Up Day. At the Marsville Link=Up Day, 300 students from across the province will present the habitats they have designed to support life in Mars.


Example 2: CSDC: Outreach Examples (5/5)

May 5, 2011 - Grade 6 English-Ukrainian Bilingual Program– UMSATS will be hosting two groups of grade 6 students for a 45

minute workshop on satellite design and a 15 minute tour of the Robotics Lab.

May 2011 - Vincent Massey Collegiate– A team of 5-6 UMSATS students will make a presentation to the

Grade 10-12 classes on the satellite challenge and careers in science and technology.


Example 3: Near-Space Exploratorium (1/3)

Objectives– To provide hands-on design, construction and testing experience

to students (university, college, high-school);

– To provide a testing facility to– University students (capstone projects)– High-school students (science projects)

– To provide a testing facility to– Industry (design for harsh environments)– R&D groups



Facilities– Satellite ground station;

– GENSO (Global Educational Network for Satellite Operations to support the operation of university satellites).



Facilities

– Controlled-lift vehicle (100,000 -180,000 ft; 30-50 km)


Example 4: Peguis FN Symposium (1/5)

Objective– To encourage First Nations students to study science and

engineering. Attendees

– 500 students from the Peguis First Nation Location

– Hotel (did not work well; no direct association with education)– University of Manitoba

Duration– Two days

Instructors: Professors and students from– Science– Engineering

Collaboration– EngAP (Engineering Access Program)



Workshop example– “Can I design and build a tiny robot?”

Logistics– Assembly– Soldering

Support– UG student assistants (SA); 1 : 1– Pre-workshop training of SAs

– Part recognition;– Part assembly;– Soldering;– Testing.

Outcome– Take-home robot (all but one completed)



Peguis students & SAs

• Explaining elements



Learning how to solder

• Finished machines charging



I will show it to my parents and my friends.


Example 5: Teaching Teachers (1/1)

Objectives– To provide high-school teachers with hands-on experience related to

– mechatronics projects,– their alternative designs, and/or– Their alternative implementations.

Logistics– During Teachers-In-Service days (Fall and Spring);– Take-home project;– Take-home alternative designs.

Project Examples– Can I design and build a tiny robot?– Can I design and build a small rocket?– Can this thing launch a rocket safely?– Will this payload survive in a Marsian atmosphere?– One-eye vision.



How it works

• Finished machines



Classes of good solders

• Safe handling of solder



Solder in a safe container

• Solder for a group of students


Example 6: Mentorship (1/1)

Objectives– To provide senior high-school students with the highest possible

project experience within one academic term.

Logistics– A project is requested by a student, based on their interest;– A mentor professor is selected for the project;– A detailed project is discussed and selected;– Review meetings (every other week);– Presentation to the school by the student;– The student gats credit for the project.

Project examples– Speech acquisition, recognition, synthesis– Pattern recognition using neural networks– Societal robots– Soccer-playing robots– Machine vision


Concluding Remarks

Traditional driving forces– Insufficient by themselves

Traditional activities – Helpful when students want to come to the university

Special augmented activites– Appear to be more attractive

– Are more costly

– Require much effort

– Should be done within a distributed system

Hands-on experience – Critical

TISP can help very much!


Acknowledgements

Partial financial support of this project is acknowledged gratefully from:– University of Manitoba

– Manitoba Aerospace

– MindSet

– Canadian Space Agency

– Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada


•••


References (1/2)

All references are listed in the accompanying paper.

Additional References [CUTG01] Codon Usage Tabulated from GenBank. Maintained by the First Laboratory for

Plant Gene Research, Kazusa DNA Research Institute, Japan, 2001.Available as of May 2009 fromhttp://www.kazusa.or.jp/codon/

[DSRC99] I. Dunham, N. Shimizu, B. A. Rpe, S. Chissoe, et al., “The DNA sequence of human chromosome 22,” Nature, vol. 402, pp. 489-495, 1999.

[Ferr08] Thomas E. Ferrin, “Interactive protein structure visualization,” Cupertino, CA: Apple, 2008. Availble as of June 12, 2008 from

– http://www.apple.com/science/insidetheimage/ferrin/– http://www.apple.com/science/insidetheimage/ferrin/video.html– Movie: science_insidetheimage_ferris20070205_480x480-protein

[GGGP80] R. Grantham, C. Gautier, M. Gouy, R. Mercier, and A. Pave, “Codon catalog usage and the genome hypothesis,” Nucl. Acids Res., vol. 8, pp. r49-62, 1980.

IEEE TISP11; Toronto April 28-29, 2011 C REATING E XCITMENT ABOUT L EARNING (AND T EACHING) Witold Kinsner Cognitive Systems Laboratory Department of Electrical.

Documents

ieee tisp11 toronto

space exploratorium

space communications

space balloon

space law

traditional activities

trlabs slide

csa slide