Learning is one of the fundamental qualities of man’s intelligent behavior. The notion of learning has not been fully understood to date. Nevertheless, scientists in the field of artificial intelligence have developed systems capable of learning. Artificial Intelligence is a broad science of imitation of human abilities, machine learning is a subset of the artificial intelligence that trains a machine to learn.
Mechanical learning aims to create machines capable of learning, improving their performance in some areas through prior knowledge and experience. It is based on the idea that systems can learn from data, recognize patterns / patterns and make decisions with minimal human intervention. Mechanical learning is around us everywhere. We all use mechanical learning systems everyday, such as junk mail filters, search engines, translation services, It is expected that our mechanical learning systems will soon drive our cars and help doctors diagnose our illnesses. It is important, therefore, to know how this field and our world operate.
Author Archives: vasilikiservou
Ohm’s law with spreadsheets
From 21st to 27th February 2019 we did the an activity described below with the students from the c class I teach. The duration of the activity was 45 minutes. We used Ohm's law to work with the basics of data processing with spreadsheets. The purpose of this activity was to make a graph showing the linear relation between the voltage at the ends of a resistance and the intensity of the current and at the same time make an experimental verification of Ohm’s law. Through this activity students practiced and enhanced their knowledge by:Continue reading
• creating headings on a spreadsheet and freezing the headline line at the top.
• Organizing and classifying their data in columns and rows.
• creating a graph of their data.
• sharing and collaborating.
• understanding Ohm’s law as taught in physics.
Distance Calculation with Ultrasonic Sensor. How Deep is the Ocean?
This activity took place from 4th of March to 1st of April at Kareas High School with approximately 220 students aged 12-15 years old in the ICT lesson, which is one hour a week with each class. In some classes 2 teaching hours were required to finish and in some others 3.
These lessons followed on from an earlier activity we did this year with an infrared sensor, which came out of an idea of one of our students for making a safety device. We discussed and investigated the matter and we started with a prototype application with an infrared sensor.
Open and closed electric circuits, variables as properties of objects in object oriented programming and manipulation of broadcasting messages.
From 12th to 20th of February 2019 with the students from the class I teach we did an activity described below. The duration of the activity was 35-40 minutes.
Students built a program that implements open and closed circuits. As described in the link below:
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/63929852/
In this way they learned about the variables as properties of the objects, as well as using messages to communicate between the objects. The on variable determines whether the switch is on or off, and thus the state of the circuit. This exercise aims to make students familiar with the concepts of object-oriented programming. It also aims to help them understand the concepts of physics of the power source, the switch and of the open and closed circuits.
They started with the following program and made the code to complete it.
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/287706968/editor
On further consideration, I think it is a good idea to follow the previous activity with the activity below or vice versa.
The buzzer is connected to the micro:bit and the micro:bit is connected to the power pack or the computer. So a circuit has been made. It goes from the P0 down to the positive terminal of our buzzer and from the buzzer it goes to the ground.
Then the micro:bit is loaded with the following code:
On button A pressed
digital write P0 to 1 * that turns P0 on
On button B pressed
digital write P0 to 0 *that turns P0 off
Therefore by pressing buttons A and B, we have a closed and opened circuit. When it is closed electric current passes through the buzzer and we hear a sound and when it is open no electricity passes from the buzzer and it is silent. An LED could be connected instead of a buzzer.
https://sites.google.com/view/microbitofthings/practical-tips
Vasiliki Servou, at Kareas High School, Athens, Bironas, Greece
Stem Discovery Week at Kareas High School
The BBC micro:bit was used for all our activities. The BBC micro:bit is a pocket-sized computer that can be coded, customised and controlled to bring your digital ideas, games and apps to life.
With 112 students from the A and B classes in our school, we did the following activities.
Using the micro:bit we built a temperature alarm for egg incubators. We used the temperature sensor of the micro:bit to sound an alarm and flash a light if the temperature was not appropriate. Concepts studied from physics included temperature measurement, open and closed electronic circuits, electric power, electric current, and earthing and from programming we studied the selection structure, logical operators “and / or” and event-oriented programming, and input and output.
More specifically using the Microsoft MakeCode block editor for the BBC micro:bit, we wrote a programme that monitors the temperature. If it was less than 37o C or more than 38o C, it played the note C (4 beats long) on a loop as an alarm, and scrolled the temperature on the display.
Otherwise, if the temperature was safe, it stopped playing the alarm and displayed a happy face. We set the temperature in the simulator (by dragging the arrow), to test our programme. Then we connected a buzzer using crocodile clips, explained the open and closed electric circuit and earthing and we tried a colourful LED as another output.
We pointed out that this is the principle used by a thermostat to control the central heating at home, or the climate control in many modern cars.
Then we discussed that as well as external outputs, such as a buzzer, or bright/coloured LEDs, one could also attach external inputs as sensors. We could use an external moisture sensor to detect the dampness of the soil in a plant pot. It could be used to sound an alarm to remind you to water the plants or even better the micro:bit could turn on a pump to water the plants automatically.
Then we discussed an activity we perfomed earlier this year using the light sensor of the micro:bit to switch the lights of the display on and off according to the light that falls on it. The light sensor of the micro:bit detects the light intensity falling on the 25 led display. We had made a programme which turned on a number of LEDs according to the light falling on the display, i.e. 0 LEDs when it was really bright, 1 LED when when it was bright, 9 LEDs when it started getting darker, and 25 LEDs when it was really dark. We discussed the model we had made and pointed out that this is how most modern cars have automatic systems to switch their lights on and off as the light level changes. Similarly, it could be used for an automated lamp in a room or a micro:bit could be attached to the back of a bike’s saddle to create a smart rear lamp.
We also said that these could be models for the Internet Of Things Devices and we discussed this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSIPNhOiMoE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEsKZGOxNKw
The following activities were done with the 25 students of the C class.
The micro:bit was used to light up LEDs, change their brightness and play music.
We built an electric circuit with the micro: bit, using fruits, human bodies and other conductors of electricity to light up LEDs, play notes on a buzzer or our headphones and change the brightness of the LEDs. From physics, we studied the concepts of Open and Closed Electric Circuits, electric power source, electric current, earthing, electric conductors and insulators, and parallel and serial resistor connection, and from computer science the concepts of Input, Output, repetition, and Event-Oriented Programming.
We discussed how we could extend the fruit keyboard we made to make a beat box.
We also studied ‘Ohm’s Law’, which connects Voltage V, Current I, and Resistance R with the formula V=I*R. We connected a LED through a resistor at pins 3V and GND. As we increased the resistance, the LED became less bright and vice versa. In a similar way we studied the serial and parallel connection of resistors.