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Everybody Needs Somebody to Teach: Embodiment, Telecommunication, and Telepresence in STEM Learning

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Conference

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual On line

Publication Date

June 22, 2020

Start Date

June 22, 2020

End Date

June 26, 2021

Conference Session

Community Engagement Division Technical Session 5

Tagged Division

Community Engagement Division

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

13

DOI

10.18260/1-2--34608

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/34608

Download Count

501

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Paper Authors

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Glen Hordemann Texas A&M University

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Glen Hordemann is a Computer Science PhD student at Texas A&M University. He is part of the Embodied Interaction Lab (TEILab) and The Institute of Technology-Infused Learning (TITIL). His current research focuses on telepresence robots and AR/VR enhancements to improve the embodiment of remote users. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from Gonzaga University and an M.S. in Computer Science from Bowling Green State University. His research interests also include AI and High Performance Computing.

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Malini Natarajarathinam Texas A&M University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-1684-6476

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Dr. Malini Natarajarathinam joined the faculty of Industrial Distribution Program at Texas A&M University in 2007. Natarajarathinam received her Ph.D. in Supply Chain Management from The University of Alabama. She received her Bachelor of Engineering (Major: Industrial and Systems Engineering) from Anna University [Tamilnadu, India], her MS in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University, her MA in Management Science and MS in Applied Statistics from The University of Alabama. She has experience working with many industries such as automotive, chemical distribution etc. on transportation and operations management projects. She works extensively with food banks and food pantries on supply chain management and logistics focused initiatives. Her graduate and undergraduate students are integral part of her service-learning based logistics classes.

She teaches courses in strategic relationships among industrial distributors and distribution logistics. Her recent research focuses on engineering education and learning sciences with a focus on how to engage students better to prepare their minds for the future. Her other research interests include empirical studies to assess impact of good supply chain practices such as coordinated decision making in stochastic supply chains, handling supply chains during times of crisis and optimizing global supply chains on the financial health of a company. She has published her research in Journal of Business Logistics, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management and peer-reviewed proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education.

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Sharon Lynn Chu University of Florida

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Dr. Chu received her B.Soc.Sci (1st Class Honors) in Communication and New Media from the National University of Singapore, her MS in Computer Science and Applications and a graduate certifcate in Human-Computer Interaction from Virginia Tech, and her Ph.D in Human-Computer Interaction from Texas A&M University. She is the Director of the Embodied Learning and Experience Lab at the University of Florida. The ELX Lab conducts research in two main areas: cyberlearning and positive computing.

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Mathew Kuttolamadom Texas A&M University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-3627-4885

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Dr. Mathew Kuttolamadom is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Technology & Industrial Distribution and the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at Texas A&M University. He received his Ph.D. in Materials Science & Engineering from Clemson University’s Int'l Center for Automotive Research. His professional experience is in the automotive industry including at the Ford Motor Company. At TAMU, he teaches Mechanics, Manufacturing and Mechanical Design to his students. His research thrusts include bioinspired functionally-graded composites, additive/subtractive manufacturing processes, laser surface texturing, tribology, visuo-haptic VR/AR interfaces and engineering education.

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Francis Quek Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Francis Quek is a Professor at Texas A&M University (Visualization, and Computer Science and Engineering and Psychology - by courtesy). He joined Texas A&M University as an interdisciplinary President’s Signature Hire to bridge disparities in STEM. Formerly he has been the Director of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech. Francis received both his B.S.E. summa cum laude (1984) and M.S.E. (1984) in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan. He completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the same university in 1990. Francis is a member of the IEEE and ACM.
He performs research in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), learning sciences and technology, embodied interaction, embodied learning, HCI for accessibility (especially for individuals with blindness), multimodal verbal/non-verbal interaction, multimodal meeting analysis, vision-based interaction, multimedia databases, medical imaging, assistive technology for the blind, human computer interaction, computer vision, and computer graphics. http://teilab.tamu.edu

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Osazuwa John Okundaye Jr Texas A&M University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-1197-8197

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Osazuwa is a third year PhD student at Texas A&M University. He is a part of the Texas A&M Embodied Interaction Lab (TEILab). His research is motivated by the idea of an embodied conception of the mind. He comes from an interdisciplinary background having earned a Bachelor's degree in psychology and a Masters of Science in Visualization afterward. He is versed in engaging the theoretical aspects of Human-Computer Interaction while able to engage in computer graphics applications (computer-aided design, modeling, animation, and 3D fabrication) and concepts pertaining to Computer Science.

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Abstract

Rural and small towns lag behind the suburbs and cities in science education. In the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 12th graders scored 11 and 19 for town and rural students, while students from the city or the suburbs scored 29 and 41, respectively. This town and rural students account for over 20% of all US public schools. A critical reason for this is a lack of STEM teaching expertise. Only 47% of science teachers have a science or engineering degree.

STEM employment grew 24.4% over the last decade, compared to a 4% growth in other occupations. STEM workers earn 29% more than non-STEM workers. This trend holds despite educational level. Despite this, women make up only 25% of computer scientists and 14% of engineers. African-Americans and Hispanics make up 14% and 13%, respectively. A lack of quality education to prepare for STEM fields, a lack of encouragement to pursue STEM from an early age, being less likely to believe they can succeed in STEM, and a lack of role models are all reasons given for these numbers. Income also has a factor on willingness to believe in one's ability to succeed at STEM and likelihood to self-select into STEM. Students from low income families were more than twice as likely to elect not to enroll in science classes than students from high income families, and four times as likely to believe they are unlikely to complete a bachelor's degree.

These issues all demand STEM educators. However, there is a severe issue with the STEM educator pipeline. Just 0.17% of high school students with an interest in STEM who take the ACT plan to pursue an occupation or college major in science education.

This paper builds on a 3-year project that placed University-based students in a distance-teaching mode to support physically-predicated technical learning in a distal high school at the Texas-Mexico border. These university students fill in a key gap in these high schools as STEM mentors, role-models, and instructors. Our interventions took place at a school many hours distant from the supporting university students, which makes the use of remote technologies essential for providing STEM support. University students met with high school students through video teleconference and telepresence robotics. We compare mentor representations and interactions with these models and compare them to the "gold-standard" of co-present instruction.

Our results show the importance of access to distal physical space for students. Our research focuses on how embodied communication, involving speech, gaze, and gesture, may be mediated through teleconference and mobile telerobotics technologies to support hands-on distance instruction. These findings give guidance for on-going research to augmented the embodied interaction for telepresence physically-predicated mentoring.

Hordemann, G., & Natarajarathinam, M., & Chu, S. L., & Kuttolamadom, M., & Quek, F., & Okundaye, O. J. (2020, June), Everybody Needs Somebody to Teach: Embodiment, Telecommunication, and Telepresence in STEM Learning Paper presented at 2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual On line . 10.18260/1-2--34608

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