Paola Forcheri

Technology Transfer in Schools: From Research to Innovation.

Technology transfer should be a central objective of research into educational information technology, as it is generally acknowledged that the quality of this process is a critical factor in effectively bringing about innovation. The central focus of this paper is on this problem. In particular, we discuss the peculiarity of information technology transfer in schools as opposed to the transfer of technology in companies: we indicate some central problems of this transfer and discuss a typology of approaches to the transfer of educational information technology from research to school.

Activity theory: A framework for design and reporting on research projects based on ICT

We propose using activity theory as a basis for designing and reporting on research projects that focus on information and communication technology (ICT) as a means to support educational processes. Adopting the theory, we describe teaching/learning activities mediated by ICT using a three level analysis: epistemological, methodological, social assistance. The analysis has been applied to the design and reporting of projects in both mathematics education at primary school level and training in technical innovation in commercial enterprises.

Informational Logic as a Tool for Automated Reasoning

A logical entropy-based Informational Logic is presented which provides new tools for probabilistic automated reasoning and knowledge representation. Applications in automated theorem proving are examined, and a decision theory for probabilistic theorems is proposed.

Teleconferencing tools in enterprises—constraints and opportunities

This paper presents an experimental approach for devising training measures to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) avail themselves of the new opportunities offered by teleconferencing tools. n n n nThe approach includes 1) an analysis of training needs, carried out by means of interviews, so as to propose methodologies and tools that will encourage SMEs to create the conditions under which they can make the most of the opportunities that tele-cooperation offers for raising productivity; and 2) a controlled experiment that seeks to analyse the conditions under which the experimental use of teleconferencing systems may become a valuable vehicle for helping SMEs to construct active awareness about the potential of these tools.

Software tools for the learning of programming: a proposal

Abstract A computing environment which guides students in building the computational model of a problem and automatically generates the corresponding code in a given language has been realized. From an educational point of view. the environment is endowed with three main features: it supports a variety of programming languages and can thus be applied to several educational contexts; it places at students disposal a series of tools for the developing and testing of formal specifications, independently of a particular programming paradigm; it provides the user with facilities for the production of effective programs by focusing attention on cognitive aspects of programming rather than on technical ones.

Design of Learner-centered Tools for Continuous Training in SMEs

Multimedia and networked educational tools may provide an effective answer to the training needs of small-medium enterprises (SMEs). In accordance with this idea, we are developing a project called Qualification 2000 supported by the E.C.s Adapt initiative. The project focuses on the use of educational technology for continuous training in informatics and its applications in office automation. The target is women employed in small-medium enterprises. The attitude of the target towards innovation makes the design of effective tools a particularly delicate problem; thus, careful design of the interface is particularly important to make these kinds of tools productive. With these ideas in mind, we carried out a series of interviews with employees, aimed at deriving a core of common needs and difficulties. The results of the interviews have been used to build a learner-centred interface based on experimental pedagogical assumptions.

A Uniform Approach to Deduction and Automatic Implementation

Structures defined by a finite set of equations can be handled both from a mathematical and a computational point of view by using term rewriting. It is therefore worthwhile to follow this approach in realizing a programming environment which integrates the capability of defining mathematical objects, which can be directly implemented, with that of automatically verifying their properties. From the user point of view, such a system presents several advantages: first of all, actual computational entities are defined by using an abstract formalism, thus being independent of the actual programming environment; second, the use of this formalism permits proving mathematical properties of computational entities, so that the correctness of the specification and of its execution are guaranteed; finally, the executable code can be automatically derived from the formal definition of a computational entity: formal definitions become in this way tools for rapid prototyping.

Designing a knowledge-based learning environment for arithmetic concepts

Abstract A knowledge-based learning environment, called ENIGMA, has been developed. This system is centred on an arithmetic game and is intended at being used in teaching arithmetic at primary/secondary school level (pupils from 9 to 12). The underlying pedagogical choices of the system will be analysed in this paper and the corresponding technical solutions which have been adopted will be illustrated.

Paraconsistent conjectural deduction based on logical entropy measures I: C-systems as non-standard inference framework

A conjectural inference is proposed, aimed at producing conjectural theorems from formal conjectures assumed as axioms, as well as admitting contradictory statements as conjectural theorems. To this end, we employ Paraconsistent Informational Logic, which provides a formal setting where the notion of conjecture formulated by an epistemic agent can be defined. The paraconsistent systems on which conjectural deduction is based are sequent formulations of the C-systems presented in Carnielli-Marcos [CAR 02b]. Thus, conjectural deduction may also be considered to be a tool for investigating the properties of paraconsistency in general.

Paraconsistent Informational Logic

Abstract We introduce a Paraconsistent Informational Logic that formalizes the idea of conjectures which are acceptable as to the quality and the variety of the information that they convey with respect to a given theory T, even if they are classically inconsistent with T. The work constitutes an extension of a previously developed Informational Logic for classical frameworks, where a new notion of logical entropy measure H on formulas and on proofs plays a central role.