i am excited and happy to share that a paper co-authored with two of my students will be read at this year's Redesigning Pedagogy International Conference (RPIC 2022), which will be held from the 30th of May to the 1st of June.
our paper is titled Using computer vision and machine learning with a view to building children’s vocabulary.
its abstract reads:
With the recent ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, there are several restrictions and regulations imposed in Singapore and other countries. Due to the surge in the number of cases, the government had decided to close down Kindergartens, Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Institutions. Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Institution students are old enough to know how to use mobile phones or computers to attend online lessons for Home Based Learning; this leaves kindergarteners as one of the only groups who cannot adapt to the new learning methods by themselves. This makes them more prone to learning losses, which would reduce their future productivity and lifetime earnings. Also, it has to be acknowledged that kindergarteners are not really built for online learning. They are at the exploration stage of their lives, and hence it is important that they are provided with the means to explore; rather than sitting and staring at the screen.
Hence, a user-friendly device was conceptualised which catered to kindergarteners and allows them to learn the names and pronunciations of different household items even while at home. This provides the kindergarteners an opportunity to self learn object names and pronunciations.
Most importantly, it caters to their learning style which mainly consists of exploration. This is due to the fact that the device provides a hands-on form of learning for the kindergarteners, which will certainly interest them and provide enhanced learning.
Additionally, since this device is a form of technology, it helps these kindergarteners to understand more and become more familiar with it. This is useful as technology is pivotal in our society and in the future as well.
