0000000001031883
AUTHOR
Giuseppe Chiazzese
Robotics and Virtual Worlds: An Experiential Learning Lab
Aim of the study was to investigate the cognitive processes involved and stimulated by educational robotics (LEGO® robots and Kodu Game Lab) in lower secondary school students. Results showed that LEGO® and KGL artifacts involve specific cognitive and academic skills. In particular the use of LEGO® is related to deductive reasoning, speed of processing visual targets, reading comprehension and geometrical problem solving; the use of KGL is related to visual-spatial working memory, updating skills and reading comprehension. Both technologies, moreover, are effective in the improvement of visual-spatial working memory. Implications for Human-Robot Interaction and BICA challenge are discussed.
Integrating xAPI in AR applications for Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support
The spread of new technologies like Augmented Reality and recent technological developments, provide innovative techniques and tools that show increasing potential in education. In this paper we will showcase the work implemented within the Horizon 2020 European project ARETE (Augmented Reality Interactive Educational System). One of the pilots of this project aims to investigate for the first time the introduction of AR to support a behavioral lesson in schools where Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support (PBIS) methodology is adopted. In particular, we present the study conducted to track user interactions with augmented reality objects through the use of the Experience API standard.
THE BEHAVE APPLICATION: AN EVIDENCE-BASED TOOL TO MANAGE SOCIAL EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOURAL DIFFICULTIES
Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD) are a persistent and multiple manifestation of maladaptive behaviours which interfere with the students' learning, social functioning and development and/or that of their peers. They may become apparent through withdrawn, passive, aggressive or self-injurious tendencies. The prevalence of these disorders is 2-16% of the general population. Children with SEBD, diagnosed or not, are likely to live in social isolation, to receive a poor education, and they risk becoming deviant teenagers, or unemployed adults. A way to approach SEBD with consistent level of educational success is to equip teachers with proper training on practical and proven…
Robotic and virtual World Programming labs to Stimulate Reasoning and visual-spatial Abilities
Abstract The individuals’ cognitive skills, academic performance and their relationship with programming of robots or virtual learning environment is a topic of particular interest in the area of human-robot interaction. This paper presents a pilot study performed on a group of 36 lower secondary school students involved in a 32-hours laboratory based on the combination of LEGO Mindstorm NXT and Microsoft Kodu Game Lab (KGL) and aimed at programming first a robot and further a more complete virtual world based on a narrative-designed scenario. The findings of the research will be discussed in the light of the effectiveness of using robotics and virtual world programming as a meaningful and …
The WHAAM Application: a Tool to Support the Evidence-Based Practice in the Functional Behaviour Assessment
BackgroundThe most recent computing technologies can promote the application of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the field of applied behaviour analysis (ABA).ObjectiveThe study describes how the use of technology can simplify the application of EBPs in ABA.MethodsThe Web Health Application for ADHD Monitoring (WHAAM) application demonstrates this in the following two case studies. We are monitoring dysfunctional behaviours, collecting behavioural data, performing systematic direct observations, creating both visual baseline and intervention charts and evaluating the planned interventions using the TAU-U statistical index.ResultsSignificant positive changes of children’s problem behaviours …
THE BASE SYSTEM: A SCHOOL-WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT TOOL TO FACILITATE EVIDENCE-BASED DIGITAL INTERVENTION PRACTICES
The Positive Behaviour Intervention and Support system is a framework aimed to introduce a change at school-wide level. It promotes a disciplinary system change process, from a reactive punishment- based strategies of specific student misbehaviours to a proactive system, where different behavioural principles such as the modelling and reinforcement of positive prosocial students’ behaviours are applied to improve school values and to create a positive climate. This paper presents the Behavioural Assessment to improve School Environment (BASE) system and the BASE repository. The BASE system supports evidence-based digital intervention practices for stimulating the academic, social, emotional…
Question Answering with BERT: designing a 3D virtual avatar for Cultural Heritage exploration
Recent technological developments are changing how people experience physical and virtual environments. Technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR), today, are impacting daily life and are being used in various domains including Cultural Heritage. Applying intelligence to applications using these technologies, through AI and Deep Learning can provide a more immersive user experience. In this paper, we propose the design of a system that realize an avatar with question-answering capabilities, for the specific purpose of giving help in immersive navigation of cultural heritage sites. It is based on a BERT model tailored to the Italian language and wi…
A DIGITAL BEHAVIOURAL ASSESSMENT APPLICATION TO APPLY POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR SUPPORT IN SCHOOL WIDE INTERVENTION
The Behavioural Assessment to improve School Environment (BASE) European Erasmus+ project responses to the European requirement of reforming the whole scholastic disciplinary system identifies in the proven US-born concept of the Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) one possible solution, and tries to adapt its practical and evidence-based principles to the heterogeneous European school settings. Recently, scientific studies (Sugai, Horner, 2016) have emphasized the promising role of PBS in reducing the occurrence of behavioural problems by setting up a preventive, proactive and multilevel system based on the direct involvement of the entire school team: starting from teachers, school leaders u…
Robotica e Mondi Virtuali: un Laboratorio di Edutainment con Lego Mindstorm e Kodu Game Lab
Un gruppo di studenti del primo anno della scuola secondaria di primo grado è stato coinvolto in uno studio di ricerca-azione volto ad esplorare le abilità cognitive coinvolte e stimolate dall’uso di tecnologie quali LEGO® Mindstorm e Kodu Game Lab (KGL). I risultati dello studio dimostrano che l’utilizzo di queste due tecnologie richiede, negli alunni coinvolti nel laboratorio, l’applica- zione di processi cognitivi e competenze scolastiche differenti. Nello specifico, LEGO® Mindstorm sollecita maggiormente l’impiego di abilità di ragiona- mento logico-deduttivo, la capacità di elaborare velocemente target visivi, il problem solving geometrico, e la lettura e comprensione del testo-. L’uso…
Introducing evidence-based practices to manage problem behaviours at school: The behave application
In the last years, an increasing awareness amongst educator and scholastic psychologists of the relevance to manage behavioural and emotional problems applying evidence-based approaches, and quasi-experimental designs is emerging. This request, however, must come to terms with certain barriers that persist in the school environment. The introduction of quantified methods to assess and monitor student's results, to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention, to understand the evolution of the single, is not part of the usual teacher's curriculum. The present paper describes the BEHAVE (Behavioral management model across Europe) application, a tool able to support the transition of all educato…