Are Virtual Teachers better than Human counterparts?

Digital Tutors Prove Effective As They Can Be More Adaptive

Boston: Never let schooling get in the way of your education, Mark Twain supposedly said, and the latest advances in psychology and behaviour science take that to a new dimension—virtual reality and the digital domain.
Virtual characters and digital tutors are helping children and adults develop advanced social and language skills that can be tough to learn via conventional approaches, according to researchers.
Justine Cassell of Northwestern University has found that children with autism can develop advanced social skills by interacting with a “virtual child” that they might not develop by hanging out with real children or teachers.
Cassell is credited with developing the Embodied Conversational Agent (ECA), a virtual human capable of interacting with humans using language and gestures.
Her “virtual child” is a cartoon about the size of an 8-yearold with whom kids can learn and play on the floor with toys via a plasma screen projection. The cartoon looks like a boy to boys and like a girl to girl, and is racially ambiguous, so no one feels left out.
The language skills of children who played with the virtual child improved and their social-interaction skills improved, Cassell’s research shows. “They played nicer,” doing better at taking turns, she told Livescience.
The virtual child has been tested and found to be an effective way to teach autistic children the ability to stay on topic in conversations, take turns to talk and nod when spoken to, she said.
Along similar lines, Dominic W Massaro of the University of California has developed software that presents 3-D animated “tutors” or talking heads that are useful in teaching remedial readers, children with language challenges and anyone learning a second language. His teachers are less cartoonish than Cassell’s, and the focus is on speech accuracy.
One of the tutors (or embodied agents) developed by Massaro, ‘Baldi’, can be programmed to enhance “errorfree learning” so that the tutor doesn’t say, “That’s wrong”, when students make mistakes, but instead offers informative feedback that helps students see their error and do better.
“Working with Baldi can be less intimidating because students don’t feel shy about making mistakes,” said Massaro.
Despite the efficacy of digital approaches to education, there is a reluctance in society for such tools to become widespread, a discomfort with the idea that human teachers might be replaced by virtual teachers on a widescale basis, Cassel said. AGENCIES

Hubble discovers many galaxies...

Hubble discovers 67 galaxies

IANS NEW YORK

THE Hubble space telescope has discovered 67 “lensing” galaxies in the distant universe, under the massive COSMOS project to map space. Gravitational lensing occurs when light traveling towards us from a distant galaxy is magnified and distorted by unusually huge clusters of other galaxies.
The “lenses” often allow astronomers to peer much further back into the early universe. They come from a recent set of observations, part of a project to survey a stretch of sky nine times the size of the full moon, facilitated by a host of space and earth-based observatories.
The COSMOS project, led by Nick Scoville of the California Institute of Technology, used, among others, the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Jean-Paul Kneib and Cicile Faure of the University of Heidelberg analysed the results from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). “What we are observing here is happening only around a single but very massive galaxy,” said Kneib.
The study of these gravitational lenses will give astronomers a first-rate opportunity to probe the dark matter distribution around galactic lenses. The Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched in 1999, was named in honour of Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who is known for determining the mass limit for white dwarf stars to become neutron stars.

Cool Invention!

Gravia: A lamp lit by the force of gravity

MUMBAI MIRROR BUREAU

A student in the US has created a floor lamp powered by gravity. Clay Moulton, who received his Master of Science in Architecture from Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies in 2007, conceptualised the lamp as a part of his master’s thesis.
Illustrations of Gravia depict an acrylic column a little over four feet high. The entire column glows when activated.
To “turn on” the lamp, the user moves weights from the bottom to the top of the lamp. The slow fall of the weights causes a mechanism – via a ball screw – to spin a rotor. The rotor, in turn, generates electricity that powers the lamp.
The resulting energy powers 10 high-output LEDs that fire into the acrylic lens, creating a diffuse light. The operation is silent, cord free, and completely independent of electrical infrastructure.
The light output is estimated to be 600-800 lumens – roughly equal to a 40 watt incandescent bulb over a period of four hours.
“It’s more complicated than flipping a switch but can be an acceptable, even enjoyable routine, like winding a beautiful clock or making good coffee,” Moulton said.
He estimates that Gravia’s mechanisms will last more than 200 years, if used eight hours a day, everyday.
“The LEDs, which are generally considered long-life devices, become short-life components in comparison to the drive mechanisms,” he said.
The acrylic lens will also be altered by time, Moulton said.
“The LEDs produce a slightly blueish light. As the acrylic ages, it yellows through exposure to ultraviolet light,” he said. “The yellowing will tend to mitigate the unnatural blue hue of the LED light. Thus, Gravia will produce a more natural colour of light with age.”
He predicted that the acrylic will begin to yellow within 10 to 15 years when Gravia is used in a home’s interior room.
The lamp recently won second place in the Greener Gadgets Design Competition as part of the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York.

Learning the hard way...

Temple Grandin, the most famous autistic person in the world, achieved not only a doctorate and professorship, but also breakthroughs in our understanding of animals

Aamir Khan’s latest film, Taare Zameen Par, has drawn attention to children with academic learning difficulties. I think the word “academic” should be stressed, as such children are often gifted in other areas. Unfortunately, our educational system has very little time for the imagination, for the arts of music, dance, song. I remember our drawing master in school would create a geometrical pattern on the board, colour it in, and we would have to copy it exactly. Amazingly, this still goes on. Those who create the syllabus seem to have even more learning difficulties than the children themselves!
In the context of what “challenged children” can achieve, I’d like to talk about Temple Grandin, the most famous autistic person in the world, who achieved not just a doctorate and professorship, but several breakthroughs in our unders t a n d i n g of anim a l s . Autism is, of course, not in the same category as dyslexia, the subject of the film. It’s a brain disorder which leads to difficulties in communication, social relationships, and causes repetitive speech and behaviour. Even at three, Grandin couldn’t talk, and would merely scream in frustration at not being able to make herself understood. Later, she would repeat the same story over and over again. Children teased her, and called her “Tape Recorder,” or “Retard.”
It was animals who saved her. Her mother sent her to a special school with riding facilities. It turned out the horses had emotional problems too, because they had been abused.
“I wish,” Grandin writes in Animals in Translation, “more kids could ride horses today. People and animals are supposed to be together. We spent quite a long time evolving together, and we used to be partners. Now people are cut off from animals unless they have a dog or a cat.”
Animals in Translation is the result of 40 years spent with animals. It’s not a new book (it was published in 2005), but it’s a classic, with endless implications for our behaviour and our attitudes. “Autistic people can think the way animals think,” Grandin writes. “Of course, we also think the way people think — we aren’t that different from normal humans. Autism is a kind of way station on the road from animals to humans, which puts autistic people like me in a perfect position to translate “animal talk” into English. I can tell people why their animals are doing the things they do.”
Grandin says she is amused when normal people say that autistic children “live in their own little world.” When you work with animals, she says you start to realise you can say the same thing about normal people. “There’s a great big, beautiful world out there that a lot of normal folks are just barely taking in.”
One of the achievements for which Temple Grandin is famous, may be questionable for those who abhor the slaughter of animals. But many plants ask her to help create more humane conditions for slaughter. People wonder she says, and she herself does too, how she can do such work when she loves animals, particularly cows, so much. What she would really like, Grandin says, is that animals should have more than a low-stress life and quick, painless death. “I wish animals could have a good life... I think we owe them that. People were animals, too, once, and when we turned into human beings we gave something up. Being close to animals brings some of it back.”
Animals in Translation is a revelation for the way in which it blurs our confident boundaries between “normal” and “challenged.”

A still from the Aamir Khan film, Taare Zameen Par. Our education system places greater emphasis on academics and lacks the time for music, dance and song

Eunice de Souza, who has introduced many to the delights of the English language, writes on books, reading and writing

New Assesment system proposed...

ON THE FIELD

At ICSE, grading is a joint exercise

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai: With a 20-mark internal assessment section for mathematics and languages in the SSC and HSC exams this year, the state board has joined the ranks of a number of education boards including the ICSE and CBSE.
However, while there are 20 marks reserved for internal assessment in all subjects for the ICSE, the marks for internals are not left to the school teacher alone. A teacher from the school as well as an external examiner jointly assess a child’s performance for the internal section.
“What’s more, the internal marks for ICSE involve a lot of field work, projects and application,’’ said M P Sharma, principal of G D Somani
High School. The marks rely heavily on project work for subjects such as history, geography and mathematics. For languages, students submit reports with in-depth analysis of the literary portion. “We also take children out on education camps too and the students’ performance at all these is taken into account,’’ said Sharma.
“Internal assessment is a good idea as it benefits students and reduces the workload for them,’’ said Campion School principal Paul Machado.
IB schools too have a 25% internal assessment for a number of subjects including languages. “The marks are given for research and oral commentaries,’’ said Vandana Lulla, principal of Podar International School at Santa Cruz.

New Assessment system proposed...

TWENTY TALK IN SCHOOLS

Will The New Internal Assessment System Ease Pressure On SSC, HSC Students Or Will It Be Mired In Malpractices?

Anahita Mukherji I TNN

Mumbai: With the state board of education introducing a 20-mark internal assessment section for mathematics and languages in the SSC and HSC exams from this year, opinion is divided on the benefits of the system.
The assessment will be done by the school and college teachers according to a time-table fixed by the school authorities and will include an oral examination for languages.
“Oral exams are meant to test whether a child can speak a language and has not simply crammed the answers for a written paper,’’ said SSC board chairperson Vijaysheela Sardesai.
Students and principals alike say it’s also a move that will mean less fear among students since a known teacher will be assessing them. “The move will ease some of the examination pressure,’’ said Kiran Mangaonkar, principal of Mithibai College.
However, there’s a lot of scepticism among principals on whether schools will adhere to the rules or simply pass their students with flying colours. Many feel that the oral exams will make it easier for students to pass the SSC and HSC exams. “Some schools might just treat these as bonus marks for students,’’ said Fr Francis Swamy, principal of Holy Family School, Andheri.
“Many school principals are openly bragging about how they don’t intend to conduct internal examinations at all. Instead, they say they’ll send in a student’s prelim marks to the board,’’ added another principal.
Parents of several students also expressed concern saying internal assessment might not be fair to bright students as they might just get the same marks as those who were weak in studies. “What’s more, what if a teacher is biased for or against a student?’’ asked a parent.
The grading system might have a chance of being misused, but it’s still a good idea, said other principals. “After all, there are already internal marks for science practicals. What’s wrong if the board introduces internals for mathematics and languages too?’’ said Jai Hind College principal Kirti Narain.
Practical marks are known to have been tampered with in the past. A former member of the SSC board said that a few years ago, he had visited several civic schools which did not have a functional science laboratory and during the practical examination for Std X, teachers had left a sheet of paper on each student’s desk with answers to the questions asked in the practical exam. Students simply copied the contents of the sheet onto the answer paper.
“As far as malpractices are concerned, cheating occurs in the theory exam as well,’’ said SSC board chairperson Vijaysheela Sardesai. “I’m hopeful that schools will follow the SSC board rules while conducting the exams.’’
The board plans to put a system of checks and balances in place too. Once the results are out, the board plans to conduct an enquiry in schools where all students have scored cent percent in the internal exams, or where a child’s performance in the internal exams varies drastically from the theory paper.
OTHER NEW RULES
Students will have to pass in both the theory and practical section for environmental science in the SSC and HSC paper, or else they will fail the board exam
Personality development has been introduced as a graded paper for Std X
In addition to practicals, there will also be a theory component to physical education for Stds X and XII