Speaker
Description
STEM Education is an important topic in today’s educational paradigm. According to Sjøberg et al. [1] new jobs that we don’t even know the name yet will appear and certainly will be influenced by innovations in science and technology. He also claims that the knowledge in the STEM area will be important not only for those associated with these areas, but to everyone because to solve real-world problems it is necessary to have information from different areas of knowledge [2].
In this perspective we present an educational resource that combines contents of physics (colour addition with LEDs), engineering (circuit assembly), technology (Arduino platform and Processing, an open source programming language and integrated development environment), and mathematics (number handling and unit conversion).
Although there are many examples in the literature regarding the study of colour addition, the educational resource here presented brings a novelty for the students, who are able to study colour addition perceived by the human eyes from two different mechanisms simultaneously: the colour seen on a computer screen is compared with the colour produced by an RGB LED. The former mechanism uses high quality filters in the screen pixels, while the latter uses low-cost LEDs combined in a light spot. In both mechanisms, This STEM activity uses a very simple and affordable experimental setup (less than 30 dollars, excluding the computer).
This activity is a clear example of how technology enhanced learning in science can be incorporated in the classroom for teaching physics in a very engaging context. It can also be useful for a conceptual discussion of what is a spectral colour, how we can obtain millions of colours on a screen and how a colour image is formed on a digital display.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and to IFIMUP, projects Ref. UIDB/04968/2020 and UIDP/04968/2020 for supporting this work.
References
[1] Sjøberg, S. 2015. Foreword. In E. K. Henriksen, J. Dillon, and G. Pellegrini (Eds.). Understanding student participation and choice in science and technology education. (pp. v-vii). Springer. 10.1007/978-94-007-7793-4.
[2] Timms, M. J., Moyle, K., Weldon, P. R., and Mitchell, P. 2018. Challenges in STEM learning in Australian schools: Literature and policy review. Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
| Contribution categories - primary focus | Primary and secondary school |
|---|---|
| Contribution categories - type | Application (shared experience, activity suggestions) |
