Abstract:

The learning process seems to be more efficient in a game context, through, let says, learning-by-making, and it may also be identified in this process its feedback nature, with future actions adapted to previous results. Under these premises, and considering that the feedback phenomenon is common to different scientific disciplines ? since communication to engineering, since neural behaviour to electronic circuits ? a set of knowledge transfer events have been carried out by the ES4FUN innovation platform to highlight the universal character of this phenomenon in different contexts: Specific events have been performed in the Science Weeks 2007 and 2008, the IIIth Conference on Innovation in Chemistry Teaching (INDOQUIM-2008, University of Cadiz), and the 10th International Conference on Carbon Science and Nanothechnology (NanoteC08, University of Sussex).
To illustrate the feedback phenomenon on the basis of the experience, a specific methodology was devised which consisted in a multimedia setup including a video camera, a projector, and a computer running vision software developed by the ES4FUN team (http://www.uca.es/es4fun). Such a configuration produces a sort of interactive mirror with added functionalities through real-time image processing. Thus, feedback experience (both in its positive and negative versions) was induced in the participants by suggesting their interaction with processed images of theirselves. Interaction was based on real-time video edition by using mathematical algorithms implemented in the LabVIEW data-acquisition and instrumentation control platform (National Instruments Inc., NI). Such a software-development platform is well-known to be a useful tool in research Labs and quality-control processes in Industry. Interestingly, in the context of the present Conference topic, a fruitful collaboration has recently been appointed between NI and Lego Company to supply programming tools to control Lego robots, as an illustrative example of the application of technology to educational objectives.
Real-time vision software was implemented to produce different effects in the image projected in front of the participants, all of them designed to highlight the feedback process which the participants were involved in. These effects covered temporal processing (image substracting at different times), symmetry implementation, image cloning or dynamical windows, as a few illustrative examples. The recorded material was systematically used for video-clips production and they are available in the youtube, along with complementary information, as an efficient way to extend the dissemination of the feedback phenomenon.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that on the basis of the above introduced methodology, specific real-time vision software has also been implemented to highlight the concept of symmetry, which has been identified as being common in different scientific disciplines. Interestingly, such software is being used in the context of body expression activities by a educational University-based association (UCADanza, University of Cadiz) to support contemporary music and dance performances.