In the form of teacher didactical design research, this work addresses a didactical issue encountered during physics teaching in a Swedish upper secondary school. A need for renewed practical laboratory work related to Newtonian mechanics is met by proposing and designing an activity based on high- speed photography using the nowadays omnipresent smartphone, thus bringing new technology into the classroom. The activity – video analysis of the collision physics of football kicks – is designed and evaluated by following a didactical design cycle. The work elaborates on how the proposed laboratory activity relates to the potential and complications of experimental activities in science education, as described in the vast literature on the topic. It is argued that the use of smartphones constitutes an interesting use of new technology for addressing known problems of practical work. Of particular interest is that smartphones offer a way to bridge the gap between the everyday life of students and the world of physics experiments (smartphones are powerful pocket laboratories). The use of smartphones also avoids using unfamiliar laboratory equipment that is known to hinder focus on intended content, while at the same time exploring a powerful tool for data acquisition and analysis. Overall, the use of smartphones (and computers) in this manner can be seen as the result of applying Occam’s razor to didactics: only familiar and readily available instrumentation is used, and skills learned (movie handling and image analysis) are all educationally worthwhile. Although the activity was judged successful, a systematic investigation of learning outcome was out of scope. This means that no strong conclusions can be drawn based on this limited work. Nonetheless, the smartphone activity was well received by the students and should constitute a useful addition to the set of instructional approaches, especially since variation is known to benefit learning. The main failure of the design was an overestimation of student prior knowledge on motion physics (and its application to image data). As a consequence, the activity took required more time and effort than originally anticipated. No severe pitfalls of smartphone usage were identified, but it should be noted that the proposed activity – with its lack of well-defined results due to variations in kick strength – requires that the teacher is capable of efficiently analysing multiple student films (avoiding the feedback process to become overwhelmingly time consuming). If not all student films are evaluated, the feedback to the students may become of low quality, and misconceptions may pass under the radar. On the other hand, given that programming from 2018 will become compulsory, an interesting development of the activity would be to include handling of images and videos using a high-level programming language like Python.

Mobile technology has allowed the traditional boundaries that exist between formal learning and informal learning to blend. The purpose of this research is to understand and describe the use of established and new “support networks” and the process of knowledge acquisition and knowledge creation in a formal learning environment. Factors affecting the design, testing and ultimate feasibility of using mobile devices such as cell phones to enhance teaching and learning in well-resourced developed, and under-resourced developing schools are identified. Findings in this study point to the general acceptance of using mobile technology as a readily available vehicle, to provide access to contents and allow learners to contribute to the collective body of knowledge from their own perspective. Copyright 2007, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Batchelor, J 2007, Mobile information communication and technology use in secondary schools : a feasibility study, MEd dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-09102007-161045 / > / Dissertation (MEd (Computer Integrated Education))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

This thesis contributes to research that informs the design of autonomous vehicles (AVs). It examines interactions among various types of road users, such as pedestrians and drivers, and describes how findings can contribute to the design of AVs. The work was undertaken as part of a research internship at Nissan Research Center-Silicon Valley on the Human Understanding in Design team. Methods included video ethnography “travel-alongs” which captured the experience of travel from the point of view of drivers and pedestrians, analysis of interaction patterns taken from video of intersections, and analysis of road laws. Findings address the implications of what it will mean for AVs to exist as social entities in a world of varied road contexts, and how AVs might navigate the social act of driving on roads they share with a variety of human users. This thesis contributes to an emerging body of research and application on the subject of the AV in the world.

This study focuses on challenges and prospects of the teaching of the Doppler Effect to grade 12 learners. The challenges of teaching the Doppler Effect were established and these findings influenced the development of activities. These activities were tested, refined and re-tested in an iterative cycle and finally provided prospects on teaching the Doppler Effect. Educational Design Research (EDR) was used to bridge theory and practice in education. This study was done in the Vhembe district in the Limpopo province. In the first cycle, questionnaires and interviews with 32 teachers and a subject advisor were used to establish the baseline with regards to the challenges of teaching the Doppler Effect. After the analysis of the data which forms the first cycle of EDR, the content and methodological problems faced by teachers when teaching the Doppler Effect were revealed. In the second cycle of the EDR, learning activities were developed that was informed by the analysis and tried out in 2 schools by learners and their teachers. Completed activity sheets were marked and the results were used to determine if there were a correlation between the activity sheets and the written test. Problems were documented and changes to the activities were again made and tried out in 10 schools by 216 learners with the help of 10 teachers. The data collected from the learners` work sheets were analysed. Pearson`s product moment correlation has shown that there is a statistically significant relationship (r = 0.65; p < 0.01) that exists between these design-research activities and solving of problems on the Doppler Effect. An instructional manual was developed comprising of the final activities. This was distributed amongst the district officials and teachers to assist them in the teaching of the Doppler Effect in the Vhembe district. / Physics / M.Sc. (Mathematics, Science and Technology Education)

Brain of Materials ist eine Plattform für innovative und smarte Materialien, die Designern, Entwicklern und Ingenieuren diverser Branchen dabei hilft, ihre Produktentstehungsprozesse zu optimieren und zu beschleunigen.

The world is facing a food shortage as the world’s population increases and arable land decreases. Despite this, the food industry is wasteful, and 30% - 40% of all produced food is lost before reaching the end consumer. Emerging technologies aim to increase the amount of food that can be grown per m2 or allow the growing of food in climates or on lands previously impossible. Four main farming techniques utilising these emerging technologies are Controlled Environment Agriculture, Hydroponic Farming, Urban Farming and Vertical farming. When used together, these techniques form the basis for what can be called a Plant Factory. Despite the positive effects these technologies have on the production rate, few Plant Factories have managed to achieve profitability. By creating support for developing the post-harvesting system for a plant factory, this thesis aims to aid in the development of profitable plant factories. The thesis uses Design Research Methodology to achieve this aim in three parts. The first part identifies the underlying factors of the post-harvesting system affecting plant factory profitability. The second presents a set of support components that will aid the developers to improve key factors affecting profitability. The third part is a case study where the support components applicability at targeting the key factors are evaluated, and suggestions for further improvements and testing of the support is suggested.  Further, using Design Research Methodology, the methods used to develop support in this thesis are presented to easily be replicated by other researchers to aid them in developing support for other industries and circumstances. The suitability of the developed support was tested using the principles of an initial DS-II. The developed support proved very useful for the investigated case, and with its conditions, the application evaluation was considered a partial success. Two key factors were successfully improved and indicated that the intended support is ready for a comprehensive DS-II. A third support component needs more work to provide the intended support fully. Therefore a second  PS iteration is recommended before a comprehensive DS-II is done to increase its value.

The digital revolution has led to a drastic transformation of electronics manufacturing industries globally. A growing number of companies are continually investing in digital technologies to remain competitive. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Big data, Robotics, etc. and smart devices have been widely adopted to improve efficiency, connectivity, and productivity of businesses. To cope with increased competition and customer demands, electronics manufacturing companies have broadened their interest in service innovation. However, companies pursuing a servitization strategy often lack an established framework i.e. method and tools to design new services. Besides, research indicates that existing frameworks with the potential to support this development are not contextualized to the electronics manufacturing industry. This design study, therefore, evaluates and proposes how the Integrative PSS approach can be adapted to suit the electronics manufacturing context to support services. The findings suggest that some models used in this approach were found to be unfavorable in the development of services. In such cases, the study contributes by providing suggestions on what models to adapt and how in the integrative PSS approach to support electronic manufacturing companies in their servitization process. The artifact is an exaptation since a known solution is extended to solve a problem in a new context and of the type instantiation.

Using design methods, techniques and tools for developing interventions to tackle complex issues have been on the rise. One such area is designing for sustainable behaviour, where the role of the designer is crucial. Addressing the limited availability of information regarding design research for effectively inciting behaviour change, this thesis aims towards developing a comprehensive guidance framework for designers. This framework is intended to be used in the research phase and meant to act as a base for scouting relevant information that will contribute to the development of a relatively sensible intervention. The framework views behavioural determinants via 3 lenses – context, culture and intent. This paper primarily takes a theoretical approach with mostly qualitative insight obtained from the literature review and case-study meta-synthesis, eventually resulting in a framework and a supporting toolkit.

Visible light communication (VLC) is a novel complement to Radio Frequency Communication (RFC) and has many applications in wireless communication, indoor positioning and where RFC is not applicable. The problem is that the technology is black-boxed and therefore hard to apply in today’s design process. For designers to be able to use VLC in their creative process, this study uses the Inspirational Bits approach to expose the materiality of VLC by asking the question: How can we design artefacts that allow designers to engage in a conversation with Visible Light Communication as a material? Through Constructive Design Research, the technology was studied in iterations by building prototypes and reflecting on them. The prototypes are evaluated in two design workshops through observation and gathered feedback from 11 participants. As a result, seven artefacts were constructed to expose seven potential material properties of VLC. The observations and collected feedback show also that the artefacts help designers to gain tacit knowledge about VLC. The artefacts use the Arduino platform and standard electrical components. A by-product of this study is the "lumoino" toolkit for tinkering and prototyping with VLC. Eventually, strengths and weaknesses are discussed, and future work sections show the potential extensions of the artefacts and expansions of the toolkit. / ”Kommunikation med synligt ljus” (VLC) som ett design material är ett komplement till ”radio frekvens kommunikation” och har många applikationer inom trådlös kommunikation, Inomhuspositionering, och situationer där RFC inte är applicerbart. Problematiken med teknologi är att den ofta inte är synlig, och därför är svår att inkludera i dagens design processer. För att designers ska kunna använda sig av VLC i deras kreativa process, utgår denna studie från ”Inspirational Bits” förhållningsätt till design, och ämnar utforska följande frågeställning: Hur kan vi designa artefakter som tillåter designers att engagera sig i en konversation med ”kommunikation med synligt ljus” (VLC) som ett design material? Genom ”konstruktiv designforskning”, studerades prototyper av teknologin följt av analys. Processen upprepades med ett flertal modeller. Prototyperna utvärderades i två design-workshops, genom observation av och respons från 11 deltagare. Som resultat, byggdes sju stycken artefakter för att belysa sju stycken potentiella materiella egenskaper av VLC. Observationerna och den samlade responsen visade också att artefakterna hjälpte designers att få taktil kunskap om VLC. Artefakterna baserades på ”the Arduino Platform” och elektriska standard komponenter. En biprodukt av denna studie är ”the lumoino toolkit for tinkering and prototyping with VLC”. Eventuella styrkor och svagheter diskuteras och stycket framtida arbete visar potentiella utvecklingar och expantioner av ”the lumoino toolkit”.

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