Articles

3DClass: a virtual learning environment in a biochemistry classroom

Thanuci Silva & Eduardo Galembeck Published by Medical Education (ISSN: 1365-2923), October 2014

In order to better prepare students to design and perform laboratory experiments, we used a virtual learning environment called ‘3DClass’ to deliver homework about laboratory experiments. This must be completed before classes involving the design and performance of experiments. We developed a homework system that allows students to answer quizzes as many times as they wish. Students are scored according to the average among tries and can continue to answer quizzes until they achieve a score of 100%, and even continue to practise to improve their grades. 3DClass gives instructors access to a detailed report which not only provides the student's grades, but also indicates how he or she answers each quiz, including the choice made for each question and the time spent on each attempt. This enables us to detect the student's level of confidence in each question and to identify which details of each technique need to be better explained before students perform experiments. The data from the quizzes are saved in a confidential databank. In the subsequent class or laboratory experiment, the instructors are provided with a summary of the class answers, identifying the questions on which students had more difficulty and those on which they scored more highly.

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Learning Styles Preferences among users of a Digital Library of Science (BDC-IB-Unicamp)

Maria Eleonora Feracin da Silva & Eduardo Galembeck Published by Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa em Educação em Ciências (ISSN: 1806-5104), March 2014

The aim of this study is to determine the learning style preference among users of the Digital Library of Science (BDC-IB-UNICAMP) using the Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) developed by Kolb in 1976 and adapted and validated in Brazil by Sobral 1992. We observed that 43% of users fit into the style assimilating. This same style is prevalent among teachers (46%) and students (42%). The prevalence of styles Assimilating and Converging was expected, since both are guided by symbols and drawings, common elements in teaching tools and teaching computational biology, an area which concentrates most of the acquis of the BDC. Unlike observed in the literature, there was a prevalence of Assimilating style among users regardless of gender, showing that socio - cultural factors may influence learning style. These data can assist in developing tools to facilitate the teaching-learning process, taking care of each individual student, with the inclusion of digital elements in materials that match users with different profiles.

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Augmented reality approach for metabolic pathways teaching

Juan Carlos Vega Garzón, Márcio Luiz Magrini, Caetano da Costa, Eduardo Galembeck Published by Revista de Ensino de Bioquímica (ISSN: 2318-8790), December 2014

A glycolysis paper puzzle has been used as strategy to teach metabolic pathways, but this kind of game demands a higher number of instructors and limits the follow up of the students’ difficulties. A technology called Augmented Reality (AR) was applied to enable the puzzle usage in large audiences, and to provide feedback to students and instructors. Drafted as flashcards readable by an app installed in tablets, it conveys information as molecules 3D-structure, clues for correct assembling of the metabolic pathway and results of student progression in the activity. Such technological improvement brought more autonomy to students for solving proposed exercises and an embedded performance data collection system helpful to understand, and after to unravel students’ difficulties.

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Visibilidade de objetos educacionais desenvolvidos pelo Laboratório de Tecnologia Educacional (LTE) em cinco plataformas de distribuição de conteúdo digital

Eduardo Galembeck & Juan Carlos Vega Garzon Published by Revista Brasileira de Ensino de Ciência e Tecnologia (ISSN 1982-873X), August 2014

This study is a visibility analysis of 196 digital content developed by LTE in five digital content distribution platforms. The study reveals that there are statistically significant difference between materials published on Portal do Professor and the other platforms. The other four platforms studied don’t show significant difference among them. Software’s developed by LTE were more accessible to audios, videos and documents; this visibility, coupled with the projected growth of users of mobile devices such as Tablets and Smartphones are a very promising scene for development of this technology for educational and science communication.

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LTE 2024 - Educational Technology Lab - IB - UNICAMP