Science Letters：Visual odometry for road vehicles —— feasibility analysis

Estimating the global position of a road vehicle without using GPS is a challenge that many scientists look forward to solving in the near future. Normally, inertial and odometry sensors are used to complement GPS measures in an attempt to provide a means for maintaining vehicle odometry during GPS outage. Nonetheless, recent experiments have demonstrated that computer vision can also be used as a valuable source to provide what can be denoted as visual odometry. For this purpose, vehicle motion can be estimated using a non-linear, photogrametric approach based on RAndom SAmple Consensus (RANSAC). The results prove that the detection and selection of relevant feature points is a crucial factor in the global performance of the visual odometry algorithm. The key issues for further improvement are discussed in this letter.     

Summer Scientific Research for Teachers: The Experience and its Effect

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

Studying learning processes of student teachers with stimulated recall interviews through changes in interactive cognitions

This article describes a qualitative study into student teachers’ learning processes through changes in their interactive cognitions. First, theoretical propositions about the relation between learning to teach, professional development, and practical knowledge are defined. Next, the procedure to grasp interactive cognitions as part of practical knowledge is explained. On three moments during teaching practise, students were video-recorded while teaching and then audio-taped during a stimulated recall interview. Changes in students’ interactive cognitions are understood as indicators for learning and professional development. The results show substantial differences between students. The significance of the findings for teacher education research is illustrated.     

Competency Maps: an Effective Model to Integrate Professional Competencies Across a STEM Curriculum

Curricula designed in the context of the European Higher Education Area need to be based on both domain-specific and professional competencies. Whereas universities have had extensive experience in developing students’ domain-specific competencies, fostering professional competencies poses a new challenge we need to face. This paper presents a model to globally develop professional competencies in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree program, and assesses the results of its implementation after 4 years. The model is based on the use of competency maps, in which each competency is defined in terms of competency units. Each competency unit is described by a set of expected learning outcomes at three domain levels. This model allows careful analysis, revision, and iteration for an effective integration of professional competencies in domain-specific subjects. A global competency map is also designed, including all the professional competency learning outcomes to be achieved throughout the degree. This map becomes a useful tool for curriculum designers and coordinators. The results were obtained from four sources: (1) students’ grades (classes graduated from 2013 to 2016, the first 4 years of the new Bachelor’s Degree in Informatics Engineering at the Barcelona School of Informatics); (2) students’ surveys (answered by students when they finished the degree); (3) the government employment survey, where former students evaluate their satisfaction of the received training in the light of their work experience; and (4) the Everis Foundation University-Enterprise Ranking, answered by over 2000 employers evaluating their satisfaction regarding their employees’ university training, where the Barcelona School of Informatics scores first in the national ranking. The results show that competency maps are a good tool for developing professional competencies in a STEM degree.     

Influence of social cognitive and gender variables on technological academic interest among Spanish high-school students: testing social cognitive career theory

This study tested social cognitive career theory (SCCT) in the technological domain with 2,359 high-school students in Asturias (Spain). Path analyses were run to determine the influence of gender on the SCCT model and to explain the influence of personal (emotional state, gender-role attitudes), contextual (perceived social supports and barriers), and cognitive (self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations) variables on technological interest. The results almost entirely confirm the SCCT model for Spanish high-school students in both the boys’ and girls’ samples. Further, the results show that girls and boys do not differ significantly as far as the different variables are concerned.     

Elementary students’ metacognitive processes and post-performance calibration on mathematical problem-solving tasks

Calibration, or the correspondence between perceived performance and actual performance, is linked to students’ metacognitive and self-regulatory skills. Making students more aware of the quality of their performance is important in elementary school settings, and more so when math problems are involved. However, many students seem to be poorly calibrated, with a tendency towards over-confidence. The present study analyzes the relationship between post-performance calibration accuracy and the metacognitive process shown by 524 fifth- and sixth-grade students while solving two math problems. After calculating a calibration index and establishing the stability of students’ judgments and actual performance, differences in the metacognitive process exhibited by students with different calibration accuracy (Accurate vs. Inaccurate groups) were analyzed. The emergence of different calibration patterns and differences in the metacognitive process as a function of mathematics achievement and grade level were also examined. Results indicated that: (a) students in the overall sample were little calibrated and over-confident, showing high stability in their judgments and actual performance across problems; (b) inaccurate students reported using information representation sub-processes (drawing/summarizing) less frequently, but writing and reviewing (and also correcting mistakes) more frequently than their accurate peers; and (c) differences in calibration patterns and the metacognitive process were found when achievement level was considered, whereas grade level did not generate any important effect. These findings suggest the usefulness of process-based measures to examine the metacognitive processes involved in making post-performance judgments, considering achievement and its possible mediating role in this relationship.     

“What I learn is what I like.” How do students in ICT-supported problem-based learning rate the quality of the learning experience,and how does it relate to the acquisition of competences?

Although advocated in theory, research findings on the benefits of ICT integration into inquiry-based learning arrangements such as problem-based learning (PBL) are still ambiguous. One explanation might be that until now students’ subjective views on learning in ICT-integrated, inquiry-based arrangements have not been considered extensively. The aim of the present study was to shed light on how students’ attitude towards various face-to-face and ICT-supported learning opportunities within a PBL course related to the learning outcomes, namely participants’ competence acquisition. To this end, a sample of n = 46 pre-service teacher students in a blended PBL course on pedagogical diagnostics for business and vocational education answered an online questionnaire. The questions explored the quality of the learning experience in the face-to-face and ICT-supported elements, and the students’ perceived competence acquisition. Data was analyzed with multiple regression analysis. Subjective satisfaction with the learning experience predicted competence acquisition for both face-to-face and ICT-supported course elements, but only if they were interactive in nature. In conclusion, ICT integration in a PBL course is not necessarily a threat but a benefit; however, this is true only when it is used within active and engaging learning opportunities.     

Music Education at Hospital Schools in Spain and Sweden: Paths Between Governing and Knowledge

This paper focuses on some debates regarding music education within hospital schooling, an educational track that has developed in the course of the 20th century within Western education systems. Analysis and proposals are made with respect to the music education curriculum content in primary education, within hospital education tracks, in Spain and Sweden. In order to critically approach the changing definition of what is considered significant knowledge, we discuss how music education curriculum content is included in hospital schools located in the capitals Madrid and Stockholm.     

The role of cued speech in the development of Spanish prepositions

The aim of the present study was to advance the knowledge of the linguistic development of students with prelingual profound deafness, especially the acquisition and use of prepositions in Spanish, a lexical category with an important role in the verbal comprehension. The researchers sought to learn the level of mastery students with prelingual profound deafness can achieve in the command of prepositions, depending on the system of communication they have been exposed to: classic oralism, Cued Speech, or signed language. The results show that the different systems of communication contribute, to different degrees, to the acquisition of Spanish prepositions, with the best results being obtained with Cued Speech.     

“Yeah,Things are Rough in Mexico. Remember We Talked About Hard Times?” Process Drama and a Teachers Role in Critically Engaging Students to Dialogue About Social Inequities in a Dual Language Classroom

The Urban Review - The majority of dual language education programs in the U.S. context include children coming together with the long-term goal of becoming bilingual, bicultural, and biliterate...