PRESS RELEASE -‘Patterns of Learning’ Exhibition
‘Patterns of Learning’ exhibition showcases greater understanding of learning process and use of technology in classroom
Thursday, 23rd March 2017
The National College of Art and Design (NCAD), Dublin, has today (23.03.17) launched the ‘Patterns of Learning’ exhibition, showcasing the outcomes of an exciting project which aims to gain a greater understanding of the learning process and how to support teachers and students through the use of technology in the classroom.
Using interactive elements, the exhibition, which runs from Thursday 23rd March to Tuesday 28th March in the NCAD Gallery, brings visitors along a timeline of exploration and tells the story of the PELARS project and how it developed, investigating how small groups of learners solve hands-on activities with physical computing.
PELARS is a European research project looking at how teachers, learners and technologies can support one another in hands-on learning of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). With 12 educational institutes / university and industry partners across Europe, the project has brought together universities who focus on design and engineering, with second-level students studying STEM subjects.
Commenting at the exhibition launch, Sam Russell, Head of Product Design at NCAD and PELARS NCAD Principal Investigator said: “The PELARS project is about learning and making. We are studying how people learn about science, technology and mathematics when they use their hands as well as their heads. The ‘Patterns of Learning’ exhibition will showcase the outcomes of this project.
“We are developing technologies (kits, electronics systems, and sensor systems) that help teachers and learners understand what’s going on when people are being educated in science and maths in the classroom. The outcomes should help to support teachers and learners, classrooms and STEM education overall.
“We’re hoping to bridge the qualitative (human experience) and quantitative (machine and sensor tracking) aspects of learning, as well as creating a new kind of learning analytics (for practice based learning tasks). The project will result in learning analytics tools for practice-based STEM learning that are appropriate for real-world learning environments.
“NCAD is one of 12 partners across Europe who is undertaking this work, through our MA in interaction design, and with an industry partner, Perch, who specialise in research-led design for applied human movement. Based close to the College campus on Thomas Street, Perch, have been instrumental in their support to our MA students on this project.
“The ‘Patterns of Learning’ exhibition will be of interest to anyone interested in the fields of design, learning, technology, and the space where all of these areas interconnect.”
This PELARS project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstrations.
For more information, visit http://www.ncad.ie/gallery-event/view/patterns-of-learning.
The exhibition is open to the public from: Thursday, 23rd March to Tuesday 28th March,
Mon - Fri, 11am - 5pm. Closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Venue: NCAD Gallery, 100 Thomas Street, Dublin 8. Admission is free and all are welcome.
ENDS
Contact: David O’Donnell, DHR Communications, Tel: 01-4200580 / 086-1081139
Notes for Editor:
• Interviews available upon request.
About NCAD
The National College of Art and Design occupies a unique position in art and design education in Ireland. It offers the largest range of Art and Design degrees in the State at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and is the only Irish university institution specialising in Art and Design. NCAD has over 1,100 full-time students and a further 450 students who take award and non-award bearing part-time classes. Further information is available at: www.ncad.ie.
Follow NCAD on Twitter: @NCAD_Dublin, Facebook: www.facebook.com/NCAD.Dublin and Instagram: www.instagram.com/ncad_dublin/.
About PELARS
Practice-based Experiential Learning Analytics Research and Support (PELARS) is a project about learning and making. We are studying how people learn about science, technology and mathematics when they use their hands as well as their heads. A big part of the project is making more explicit the implicit practices of science teachers: “Lab demos” and hands on experiments have been a big part of science teaching for as long as anyone can remember, but how to model and analyse these practice, while empowering teachers, is far less understood. So, the PELARS project will find ways of generating “analytics” (data about the learning process and analysis of this data), which helps learners and teachers by providing feedback from hands-on, project-based and experiential learning situations. For more information visit http://www.learningmaking.eu/about-pelars/. The full list of project partners can found on www.pelars.eu.
