2. Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU

Our society is immersed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution due to the fast evolution of the new technologies that are modifying the labor market. In the near future, technologies related to Industry 4.0 will produce totally new goods and services. Therefore, the educational systems should adapt their programs to the future needs of an uncertain labor market. In particular, mathematics will play a key role in future jobs and there is a strong need to connect its teaching methodologies to the new technological scene. This work uses the STEAM approach (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) along with active methodologies and educational robotics with the aim of developing a new strategy for the application of mathematics and physics in an engineering degree. In particular, a transportation challenge is posed to tackle the teaching–learning process of the Bézier curves and their applications in physics. A pilot project is developed using a LEGO EV3 robot and an active methodology, where students become the center of the learning process. The experimental results of the pilot study indicate an increase in the motivation due to the use of robots and the realistic context of the challenge.

The objective of our research is the implementation of STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics) learning in the bachelor of Engineering in industrial design and product development at CEU Cardenal Herrera University through the EXPLORIA project. This article implements and develops the proposal for the first year of this bachelor, which includes 24 students aged 18–20. This article focuses on how to integrate STEAM learning within the EXPLORIA project for the improvement in the learning of the physics subject, and in particular, regarding the part of the syllabus related to mechanical engineering through different projects, challenges and milestones that allow the student to see the use in the design and development of products. The EXPLORIA project connects the competencies of the different STEAM subjects included in the bachelor, designing a learning process as a logical, sequential and incremental itinerary. Through concepts on which the fundamentals of design are based: shape, volume, color, space and structure. In particular, this article shows the adaptation made in the physical part to be able to teach the integrated mechanics part in this learning process. The complete learning was carried out through several challenges and two milestones the students had to overcome through the application of the physical knowledge learned in class. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, at the end of the paper, an ad hoc questionnaire is carried out showing the students’ assessment regarding the new teaching methodology.

Over the last years, mobile robot platforms are having a key role in education worldwide. Among others, LEGO Robots and MATLAB/Simulink are being used mainly in universities to improve the teaching experience. Most LEGO systems used in the literature are based on NXT, as the EV3 version is relatively recent. In contrast to the previous versions, the EV3 allows the development of real-time applications for teaching a wide variety of subjects as well as conducting research experiments. The goal of the research presented in this paper was to develop and validate a novel real-time educational platform based on the MATLAB/Simulink package and the LEGO EV3 brick for academic use in the fields of robotics and computer science. The proposed framework is tested here in different university teaching situations and several case studies are presented in the form of interactive projects developed by students. Without loss of generality, the platform is used for testing different robot path planning algorithms. Classical algorithms like rapidly-exploring random trees or artificial potential fields, developed by robotics researchers, are tested by bachelor students, since the code is freely available on the Internet. Furthermore, recent path planning algorithms developed by the authors are also tested in the platform with the aim of detecting the limits of its applicability. The restrictions and advantages of the proposed platform are discussed in order to enlighten future educational applications.

The COVID-19 pandemic and its social implications generate adverse psychological effects that affect success in education where educational methodologies are not ready to overcome the problem. This article presents the design and evaluation of a gamification activity, the Escape Room, applied to the subjects in Pharmacy and Nursing. The objective of using the Escape Room is to reduce the impact that COVID-19 has on students’ academic performance due to the psychological effects and the change in educational modality with which the vast majority of activities are carried out online. The Escape Room presented in this article is based on the search for a scientist who is fleeing with the COVID-19 vaccine around the world and the students have to find it by passing tests and missions related to mathematics. Due to the COVID measures imposed by the university, where double presentiality was imposed, the proposed Escape Room has the peculiarity of being designed in dual format, that is, allowing students to connect in face-to-face mode, online, or a mixture of both, depending on the maximum capacity of the classroom, the number of positive cases in the group, quarantines, etc. As a result, a great impact is shown on the initial perception of students towards mathematics and a null impact of the COVID-19 effect on the academic performance of students.

The main objective of this article has been to evaluate the effect that the implementation of the EXPLORIA project has had on the Engineering Degree in Industrial Design and Product Development. The EXPLORIA project aims to develop an integrated competence map of the learning process, where the subjects are no longer considered as isolated contents, by elaborating an integrated learning process where the competences and learning outcomes of the subjects are considered as a whole, global and comprehensive learning. The EXPLORIA project connects the competencies of the different STEAM subjects that make up the degree, designing a learning process as a logical, sequential and incremental itinerary. Through concepts on which the foundations of design are based—shape, volume, colour, space and structure—the competencies of the different subjects are defined in incremental learning levels: understanding, applying, experimenting and developing, all taken from Bloom’s taxonomy. Mathematics is linked to the rest of learning through active learning methodologies that make learning useful. This new methodology changes the student’s affective domain towards mathematics in which positive emotions are transformed into positive attitudes that will improve the learning result and therefore, the students’ academic results. To validate it, at the end of the paper, the academic results compared with previous years are shown, as well as an ad hoc survey of the students’ assessment of the new teaching methodology.