Recent Advances in Information Science
Cognitive Learning Environment for Nanoinformatics
VADIM SHAKHNOV
Department of Design and Technology of Electronic Devices
Bauman Moscow State Technical University
2nd Baumanskaya 5 105005 Moscow
Russia
[email protected]
LYUDMILA ZINCHENKO
Department of Design and Technology of Electronic Devices
Bauman Moscow State Technical University
2nd Baumanskaya 5 105005 Moscow
Russia
[email protected]
ELENA REZCHIKOVA
Department of Design and Technology of Electronic Devices
Bauman Moscow State Technical University
2nd Baumanskaya 5 105005 Moscow
Russia
[email protected]
Abstract: - In the paper authors present the preliminary results of a research aimed at exploitation of cognitive
learning environment for education in Nanoinformatics. Our focus is on mind maps and concept maps
visualization techniques and their application to education in Nanoinformatics. The BMSTU case studies are
discussed.
Key-Words: - nanoinformatics, education, cognitive science, mind maps
for a member of teaching staff because he/she either
draws these images during lectures preparation or
chooses these images from books, Internet etc.
according to own preferences. During a lecture
students wrote their own notes and drew their own
images in their notebooks. Currently a teaching staff
uses Power Point presentations during lectures that
allows enhancing an information flow speed but
finally can result in the decrease of understanding
level for engineering education. We could explain
this phenomenon as follows. Students attend a
lecture and keep the corresponding presentation for
further education purposes. However, their own
mental images are not created during a lecture. This
switch from an active learning form (the writing
notes in notebooks) to a passive learning form
(students use their senses to collect in information
during a lecture) results in lower level of
1 Introduction
In this paper we discuss approaches to a creation
and an exploitation of a cognitive learning
environment for education in Nanoinformatics.
Nanoinformatics is an application of e-Science to
nanoscale
science
and
engineering
[1].
Nanoinformatics includes the following activities:
data collection, management, storage, modeling,
simulation and results analysis. All mentioned
above activities serve to extract useful information
relevant to nanoscale science and engineering for
the further scientific research.
Traditionally teaching staff in engineering
education uses a learning environment including
several schemes, drawing, technological flowcharts
in order to explain device design, features of
technological processes, equipment exploitation
instructions etc. However, these images are native
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branches to higher level of hierarchy. Visual images
and figures are strongly recommended to be used in
mind maps technique.
Mind maps are used to relate objectives, capture
ideas and information. This radiant, non-linear
structure is a natural function of the human mind.
The mind maps visualization techniques allow using
the whole brain resources and thinking
multidimensionally. In addition, personal learning,
memory and creativity are expected to be enhanced.
Concepts maps were proposed by J. Novak in the
1970s [14]. They use concepts and relations
between the concepts. In comparison with mind
maps they represents a systematic view of a research
object and use a free structure with many clusters
and their associated words. It should be noted that
concepts maps potentially contain more information
in comparison with mind maps and can be used for
ontology building.
Mathematically, both mind maps and concept
maps represents a graph with additional information
on vertexes and edges. Therefore, the graph theory
can be applied to analyze features of these specific
graphs.
Mind and concept maps visualization techniques
are effective both for social education and for
engineering education. In this paper our focus is on
application of the mind maps and concept maps
visualization techniques for education in
Nanoinformatics.
understanding and lower level of long-term
knowledge. In order to overcome this problem
authors provide a printed version of a presentation
for students. However, this printed version does not
use active learning forms as well.
In the paper we discuss several approaches that
potentially are able to overcome the mentioned
above problem. Our first approach is based on mind
map visualization techniques. Mind map is a
reflection of the thinking about a topic [2]. They
have radial structures with the central image. Mind
maps are effective technique to help a human mind
to keep ideas generated during some discussion, e.g.
during brain storming.
Another approach is based on concept maps.
Concept map visualization techniques are based on
concepts and links between them. Concept maps
represents a systematic view and can have several
conceptual centers.
Mind maps and concept maps are applied in
different areas including higher education, business,
government etc. Advantages and disadvantages of
their exploitation are outlined.
We discuss our experience in the application of
these visualization techniques to education in
Nanoinformatics. Our preliminary results are
presented.
The rest of paper is structured as follows. Section
2 is about Mind Maps and Concept Maps
visualization techniques and the corresponding
mapping software. Section 3 reviews related works
in the field of engineering education and
applications of maps in education. Section 4
presents our preliminary results of the mentioned
above methods applications for education in
Nanoinformatics. Finally, conclusions are derived in
Section 5.
2.2 Mapping Software
Mind maps and concept maps can be created
manually and through the use of software. Currently
commercial and free mapping software with the
capability to create digital versions of maps is
available. Some popular mapping tools are
discussed below.
MindMeister [3] is a leading online mind
mapping software. Free basic restricted version is
available after registration. It runs on Microsoft
Windows, Linux and Mac operating systems.
MindMeister has many export and import
capabilities. Collaboration in real-time with team
members is supported.
Compendium [4] is a free tool that uses the
mapping of ideas. The tool supports not only a
creation of mind and concept maps, but argument
and dialogue maps. It is written in Java and runs on
Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac operating
systems. It widely used in Open University (UK) in
research work and course development.
The IHMC Cmap Tools [5] is a free concept
mapping software written in Java. It is the most
2 Maps Visualization Techniques
2.1 Mind and Concept Maps Visualization
Techniques
Mind maps have been proposed by T. Buzan in the
1970s [2]. He formulated the following rules of
mind maps drawing. First of all, the main definition
(one or two words) has to be selected. The main
definition is placed in the center as the central
image. Then the major associated words are
selected. They radiate from the center node.
Hierarchical structure is strongly advised. More
important associated words are placed with branches
to the center. The lower level of hierarchy has
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popular free concept mapping software. It runs on
Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac operating
systems. Its interface can be easily used for several
applications including Web applications. The IHMC
Cmap Tools is available in 17 different languages
including English, German, French etc.
In [9] features of the Bologna process for
Russian education system have been discussed.
Usually curricula content in Russian University is
dictated by the Federal Standards for Higher
Education issued by Ministry of Education and
Science of Russian Federation. However, 38
Russian Universities including Lomonosov State
University, Saint Peterburg State University,
National Research Universities and Federal
Universities can design their own curricula.
Nevertheless, they have to correspond to the Federal
Standards for Higher Education. The paper [9]
discusses curricula design to harmonize the national
qualification system and the Framework for
Qualification in the European Higher Education
Area (QF-EHEA).
In [10] several applications of Compendium [4],
a free mapping tool, have been discussed. It was
shown benefits of the open education resources
sharing through maps. Two case studies include two
courses of the Open University (UK), namely the
Exploring Psychology’s Context and History Unit
by the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Project
Management Unit by the Open University Business
School. However, information management skills
for Nanoinformatics applications are not discussed
in details.
In [11] applications of mind maps to production
engineering and management education have been
discussed. Mind map visualization techniques have
been used in course “Introduction to Electricity and
Electronics” as well [12]. In the case study [12]
mind maps have been created both manually and
through Mindjet software. It was shown [12] that
students results have been improved slightly.
However, it is more important that long-term
knowledge has been enhanced. However, some
electrical engineering students indicate that these
techniques were not effective for them.
Thus, an engineer’s role is not more limited to
technical problems only. To be competitive
engineers have to develop a set of competences. A
cognitive learning environment can be used for
training of all mentioned above competences.
However, in this paper our focus is on technical and
profession competences training.
3 Review of Related Works
A lot of information available for a student requires
novel approaches to manage this information flow.
New information management tools and devices
introduced to market and an engineer has to use
these new tools in order to be competitive. The main
problem of modern engineering education system is
a necessity of a new education system that keeps
essentials of knowledge, accumulated humanity
during many centuries, and creates a base to
accumulate new knowledge during education and
even after university graduation.
Engineering education is crucial for innovation
and science society. Many papers and books have
been published in this area. However, current trends
in society development require novel approaches to
engineering education.
In [6] five major shifts in 100 years of
engineering education were formulated. They are
given as follows:
1. A shift from practical emphasis to engineering
science.
2. A shift to outcome learning.
3. A shift to emphasizing engineering design;
4. A shift to applying psychology and education
research results.
5. A shift to integrating information and
communication technology in education process.
The first two shifts are widely used in teaching
practice. The latter three are under progress. It
should be noted that new curricula design and
teaching methods are under the influence of these
shifts.
In [7] the 3-D Engineering approach has been
proposed. It was shown that an engineering graduate
to be competitive has to demonstrate technical,
professional and global competences.
In [8] features of engineering education for
innovative society have been discussed. It was
shown that now focus is on high adaptation level
because of high mobility of human resources
between countries and different culture and
traditions. The paper [8] identified that the sixth
major shift is the integration to curricula the
attributes of a global engineer.
ISBN: 978-960-474-344-5
4 Case Study and Results
In this paper the case study of mapping visualization
techniques
applications
to
education
in
Nanoinformatics is presented. We discuss our
preliminary results.
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Recent Advances in Information Science
4.1 General Remarks
Nanoinformatics is a new research area that requires
knowledge in different disciplines: mathematics,
informatics,
physics,
chemistry
etc.
Nanoinformatics technical competences include
engineering science fundamentals (mathematics,
physics, informatics etc.), circuit theory, algorithms
theory, programming, electronics, material science,
project management and innovation, system
engineering etc. These courses are traditional in
engineering curricula.
Profession competences requires effective
communication, leadership, creativity, critical
thinking, flexibility etc. The corresponding
additional courses have been introduced in curricula
recently.
Global competences are a novel component in
engineering education. The graduates have to
understand global markets nanoscale engineering, to
know best world business practices, effectively
communicate in a language(s) that are not native.
Understanding global ethics, safety and security
standards, an ability to work in multicultural
environments are crucial requirements to a graduate.
Appreciation of cultural, social, and political
differences is an important global competence as
well.
The maps visualization techniques can be used
for the third and fourth major shifts for nanoscale
engineering education. In addition, the use of
mapping software allows supporting the fifth major
shift in this area of engineering education.
Mind maps can be used to enhance engineering
learning outcomes by means of own mind images
generated during a workshop, while concept maps
can be used for text mining and enhancing
metacognition.
In general, both mind maps and concept maps
visualization techniques can be used in a cognitive
learning environment for all competencies.
Creativity is enhanced with the maps visualization
techniques. Team communication is more effective
with visualization tools including mind maps and
concept maps visualization techniques Therefore, it
seems to be that the most effective application of
mind maps and concept maps visualization
techniques is for profession competency training.
Fig. 1. Example of an equipment used by students
for nanotechnology exercises
MSc and PhD degrees in different engineering
fields. In 2013 World University Ranking the
Bauman Moscow State Technical University moved
to 334th position in overall ranking.
The first cycle qualification QF-EHEA (BSc
level) in BMSTU corresponds to 240 ECTS (the
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation
System) credits (4 years cycle). The second cycle
qualification (MSC level) requires 120 ECTS credits
(2 years cycle). PhD cycle has 3- or 4-year
curricula. The duration depends from a research
area. It should be noted that exams between cycle
qualifications are mandatory.
Active learning and project-based learning
methods are widely used in BMSTU [9]. Fig. 1
shows an example of equipment used by our
students for nanotechnology exercises. Fig. 2 shows
an example of a scan obtained by students during
their nanotechnology exercises.
The authors use mind maps and concept maps in
several engineering courses. Mapping software can
4.2 BMSTU Case Study
With the almost 18 000 students, the Bauman
Moscow State Technical University (BMSTU) is the
largest Russian technical University offering BSc,
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Fig. 2. Example of a scan obtained by students
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While mind maps and concept maps
visualization techniques were applied in education
for many years, our focus is on their application to
education in Nanoinformatics.
Advantages and disadvantages of mind maps and
concept maps visualization techniques for
Nanoinformatics engineering education have been
discussed.
It should be noted that mind maps and concept
maps add cognitive elements to education process.
In addition, more elements to their maps can be
added by students during additional exercises to
improve their knowledge. This adaptability is an
important asset for open education resources [13].
A short review of mapping software was given.
Free, commercial and online software can be used in
engineering education process. It seems to be that
the most effective in the context of a globalization is
online software because it provides a collaborative
cognitive learning environment.
Mind maps and concept maps visualization
techniques with active learning scheme are strongly
recommended
in
engineering
education
applications. They allow increasing mind
capabilities and enhancing creativity. Therefore,
mind maps and concept maps visualization
techniques can be used for the third and fourth
major shifts for engineering education. In addition,
the use of mapping software supports the fifth major
shift in this area of engineering education.
The case study of mind maps and concept maps
visualization techniques applications to Nanoscale
Engineering was discussed. 3-D Engineering
competencies for Nanoscale Engineering were
proposed.
be chosen either by students or by a member of
teaching staff. We use different learning schemes,
but the best results are observed for active learning
schemes.
It should be emphasized the significance of both
manual and software approaches to a creation of
mind maps and concept maps. Hand-drawn maps
are more suitable for engineering competences
training, especially taking notes or planning a
presentation. However, for profession and global
competences the abilities of on-line mapping
software for real-time collaboration is an important
asset. It should be noted that our experience can be
easily expanded for other engineering courses.
Our research methodology is given below. We
have used maps in two courses. The first course
NanoMaterial Science is 2 credits (100 scores)/ 4
contact hours, 2 hours lecture and 2 hours
laboratory.
The authors asked their students to choose an
analogy for a given nanotechnological operation and
to structure this information as a mind map.
The second course Algorithms is 1.5 credits (100
scores)/3 contact hours/ 1 hour lecture and 2 hours
workshop. The authors asked their students to create
mind maps for some course units.
Figs. 3 -5 show the examples of maps that have
been created by students for different courses.
5 Conclusion
Evolution of society requires novel approaches to
engineering education. In our paper we discussed
two visualization and information management
techniques, namely mind maps and concept maps
visualization techniques.
Fig. 3. Example of mind map created by a student
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Fig. 4. Example of mind map created by a student
using software MindMeister
An application of the mentioned above
visualization techniques is possible for all
competencies. Especially the use of these techniques
for profession competency training is recommended.
Finally, authors believe that cognitive learning
environments are crucial for effective engineering
education, especially for open education resources
development [13]. It seems to be the most effective
way to integrate students learning and students
preferences.
Fig. 5. Example of mind map created by a student
using software MindMeister
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Acknowledgement
Vadim Shakhnov, Lyudmila Zinchenko, and Elena
Rezchikova acknowledge the support of the grant
for Support of Leading Scientific School of Russian
Federation (grant No. LS-1152.2012.9) and RFBR
(grant No. 13-07-0073-a).
References:
[1] V. Shakhnov, L. Zinchenko, Nanoinformatics:
Direction of Development of Information
Technologies, Information Technologies and
Computing Systems, No. 3, 2012 pp. 55-65.
[2] http://www.thinkbuzan.com
[3] http://www.mindmeister.com
[4] http://compendium.open.ac.uk/index.html
[5] http://cmap.ihmc.us
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ISBN: 978-960-474-344-5
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