Elimination of barriers for a broader use of remote experiments in Slovakia

Alena Hašková; Danka Lukáčová; Gabriel Bánesz

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Conference: 2017 ASEE International Forum
Location: Columbus , Ohio
Publication Date: June 28, 2017
Start Date: June 28, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Page Count: 8
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--29282
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/29282
Download Count: 204

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Paper Authors

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Gabriel Bánesz Ph.D. Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra

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Assoc. Prof. PaedDr. Gabriel Bánesz, Ph.D., works at the Department of Technology and Information Technologies at the Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia). He is an associated professor in the branch of Subject Didactics - Didactics of Special Technical Subjects and a member of the Subject Committee of the postgraduate (Ph.D.) study program Didactics of Special Technical Subject. He acts as a member of the commissions for the first and second attestation of the primary and secondary school technology teachers and holds the position of the deputy chairman of the Slovak Board of the school competition Technology Olympiad.

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Alena Hašková Ph.D. Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra

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Prof. PaedDr. Alena Hašková, Ph.D., is a professor of Technology of Education. She works at the Department of Technology and Information Technologies at the Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia). Her primary interests are methodology of teaching, IT applications in education, development of educational environments and their use for specific purposes, and optimization of school management. She is a guarantee of the postgraduate (Ph.D.) study program Didactics of Special Technical Subject and habilitation and inauguration procedure in the science branch Subject Didactics - Didactics of Special Technical Subjects (procedures in Assoc. Prof. and Prof. title awarding).

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Danka Lukáčová Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia)

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Assoc. Prof. PaedDr. Danka Lukáčová, Ph.D., is an associated professor in the branch of Subject Didactics - Didactics of Special Technical Subjects. She is a supervisor of the postgraduate (Ph.D.) students in the study program Didactics of Special Technical Subject. Her primary interest is curricula and educational standard design. Currently she holds the position of the deputy head of the Department of Technology and Information Technologies at the Faculty of Education, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia).

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Abstract

The use of remote real experiments in teaching process is not a new phenomenon either abroad or in Slovakia. However, in Slovakia this kind of experiments has not still become a common teaching tool for science and engineering education and has not been ranked among the conventional ways of teaching.

The most significant barriers to use remote real experiments, identified on the basis of a questionnaire survey, are the following ones: - insufficient technical platform for their use at schools, or rather costly platform creation with the relevant technical parameters (technical and related to them financial obstacles), - technical difficulty and time consuming design of the remote real experiments to be created by teachers, - franchise costs and fees in the case of commercial software products, - lack of information for teachers on web sites with open access to remote experiments, - low teaching level of the available products (underestimated didactic aspects of the offered remote experiments), - lack of trainings for teachers to be trained in using this teaching tool (almost no offer of the adequate continuing professional development courses).

To eliminate the stated barriers a project Remote real experiments in school practice supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic was carried out (2014 – 2016). Within the project two main outputs were developed: - surveillance catalogue (overview) of the remote real experiments accessible on the Internet (http://ki.fpv.ucm.sk/kega/index.html), - methodology for remote real experiment assessment.

The designed methodology is based on the principles used by Ferrero and Dormido. Following the newly created methodology, the experiments included into the designed catalogue were assessed with respect to: - observed experimental process (its particular phenomena) visualization, - speed of response (access time to the experiment), - experiment accessibility from the software point of view, - page navigation, - comprehensibility of the offered instructions regarding the experiment control and operation, - introduction (assignment) of the experiment in relation to the stated teaching goals, - presentation of the theory needed to understand the experiment, - possibilities to communicate with the experiment provider, - provision of different instructions and comments designed for the teacher.

The assessment of particular remote experiments was processed and described using descriptive statistics. Based on these results the paper will present three examples of the remote real experiments with the highest evaluation score: wind tunnel, alternating current rectifier, solar energy conversion.

Citation
Format

Bánesz, G., & Hašková, A., & Lukáčová, D. (2017, June), Elimination of barriers for a broader use of remote experiments in Slovakia Paper presented at 2017 ASEE International Forum, Columbus , Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--29282

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - The use of remote real experiments in teaching process is not a new phenomenon either abroad or in Slovakia. However, in Slovakia this kind of experiments has not still become a common teaching tool for science and engineering education and has not been ranked among the conventional ways of teaching.

The most significant barriers to use remote real experiments, identified on the basis of a questionnaire survey, are the following ones:
-	insufficient technical platform for their use at schools, or rather costly platform creation with the relevant technical parameters (technical and related to them financial obstacles),
-	technical difficulty and time consuming design of the remote real experiments to be created by teachers,
-	franchise costs and fees in the case of commercial software products,
-	lack of information for teachers on web sites with open access to remote experiments, 
-	low teaching level of the available products (underestimated didactic aspects of the offered remote experiments),
-	lack of trainings for teachers to be trained in using this teaching tool (almost no offer of the adequate continuing professional development courses).

To eliminate the stated barriers a project Remote real experiments in school practice supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic was carried out (2014 – 2016). Within the project two main outputs were developed:
-	surveillance catalogue (overview) of the remote real experiments accessible on the Internet (http://ki.fpv.ucm.sk/kega/index.html),
-	methodology for remote real experiment assessment.

The designed methodology is based on the principles used by Ferrero and Dormido. Following the newly created methodology, the experiments included into the designed catalogue were assessed with respect to:
-	observed experimental process (its particular phenomena) visualization,
-	speed of response (access time to the experiment),
-	experiment accessibility from the software point of view,
-	page navigation,
-	comprehensibility of the offered instructions regarding the experiment control and operation,
-	introduction (assignment) of the experiment in relation to the stated teaching goals,
-	presentation of the theory needed to understand the experiment,
-	possibilities to communicate with the experiment provider,
-	provision of different instructions and comments designed for the teacher.

The assessment of particular remote experiments was processed and described using descriptive statistics. Based on these results the paper will present three examples of the remote real experiments with the highest evaluation score: wind tunnel, alternating current rectifier, solar energy conversion.

AU  - Gabriel Bánesz Ph.D.
AU  - Alena Hašková Ph.D.
AU  - Danka Lukáčová
CY  - Columbus , Ohio
DA  - 2017/06/28
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Elimination of barriers for a broader use of remote experiments in Slovakia
UR  - https://strategy.asee.org/29282
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--29282
ER  -