Daily Archives: October 16, 2019

Partnership Connects Analytics and Shift Reporting – Automation World

Posted: October 16, 2019 at 5:35 pm

TrendMiner, a provider of self-service industrial analytics, and Eschbach, a digital plant process management (PPM) supplier, have developed a partnership to integrate their TrendMiner and Shiftconnector products, connecting advanced analytics with shift reporting functionality to improve operations.

The analytics capabilities of TrendMiner enable customers to predict process deviations while Shiftconnector sends these deviations to the control room for shift personnel to contextualize and add additional information as to why these deviations occurred. This data is then returned to TrendMiner to be used by engineers as a starting point to identify improvements to operations.

Combining the data in this way makes it available to shift personnel and engineers on demand, creating a continuous flow of information and better visibility throughout the production process. By arming employees with the tools to be able to address the challenges of plant and process automation, Shiftconnector helps users address specific production and operational challenges in a coordinated manner.

With this integration, stakeholders in the control room and shift teams will benefit due to better analytics-driven decisions making, and process and asset experts will also benefit due to the broader contextual information and the ability to improve operational performance.

The integration [of these software tools] will accelerate analytics-driven decision making in the control room and cross-department collaboration for the next wave in operational excellence, said Thomas Dhollander, CTO of TrendMiner."

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Thailand and Japan agree to develop automation tech – OpenGov Asia

Posted: at 5:35 pm

The Industry Ministry has begun a mission to bolster ties with Japanese businesses given the uncertainties surrounding Thai politics.

Japan is among the key nations the ministry aims to cement ties with. It was noted that R&D experience from Japan can help the government meet its goal of directing the country toward the fourth industrial revolution.

The recent meeting in Japan was aimed at assuring Japanese businessmen of the mutual benefits the two countries will enjoy through stronger investment ties.

During the trip, the minister, the chairman of a major car manufacturer signed a memorandum of understanding.

Under the MoU, the two have agreed to further develop automation and robotics in Thailand, two fields that are crucial to the Thailand 4.0 blueprint.

Robotics is one of 10 targeted industries in the governments Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) project, which is a new high-tech industrial hub covering 30,000 rai of land in three coastal provinces of Chon Buri, Rayong and Chachoengsao.

The MoU will be a start for setting up a consortium to support robotics and automation development.

In addition, Thailand wants to increase the number of system integrators specialising in computing operations.

During the trip, the minister, also led an entourage to meet high-ranking Japanese officials, including those in charge of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), to discuss joint business opportunities.

The METI promised to take Japanese investors to Thailand to see how they can develop their businesses in the EEC. Many EEC projects will be at the heart of industrial development under Thailand 4.0.

The minister also noted that he had strengthened investment links with Japans large agencies and corporations.

These corporations include the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation, which is helping Thailand with rubbish recycling technology; a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer, which is preparing to produce plug-in hybrid electric vehicles in Thailand over the next two years, and another arm of the same automotive manufacturer, which is planning to open a new smart technology business line.

The minister also sought cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises in Toyama, located northwest of Tokyo, in a move to encourage Japanese SMEs to expand their businesses to Thailand.

They are prospective investors too because almost all large companies in Japan have already invested in Thailand, the minister noted.

Toyamas businessmen are interested in doing business in Thailand as they have established 65 firms here over the past three years. The Industry Ministry hopes to increase that number to 100 by 2021.

The Thai government will give new investors incentives which will be tailor-made for their businesses. The aim to help Japanese firms feel more comfortable in Thailand in order to support more foreign investment.

Thailand seen as a tech hub

According to another article, the ministers recent trip to Japan involved meeting regarding business and investment opportunities with existing and future partners, including one automotive company which aims to produce 5.5 million automobiles in Thailand by 2025.

After signing a memorandum of understanding with the Japan-Thailand Economics Corporation Society (JTECS) and Toyota Motors Co Ltd, the minister stated that the agreement to boost the production of automobiles and improve the robotic industry in Thailand.

This MoU will bring the nation closer to the Thailand 4.0 target. Moreover, the government aims to establish 1,400 system integrators within four years to facilitate hardware and software needs of corporate clients.

As a major partner in this MoU, the automotive manufacturer will bring state-of-the-art technology to manufacturing bases in Thailand, which will boost production capacity to over 750,000 units annually.

Within this target, 500,000 will be electric vehicles [EV], while the rest will be plug-in hybrid electric vehicles [PHEV]. An emphasis is being placed on PHEVs since pure EVs still have many limitations, such as higher price batteries and total reliance on charging stations, which are not comprehensive enough in many areas.

Japan is also interested in infrastructure projects such as high-speed train and manufacturing bases for robotics and high-tech industries.

Thailand and Japan agree to develop automation tech - OpenGov Asia

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Neximatic Partners With Surgical Information Systems to Deliver Automated Vitals Charting to Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Market – P&T Community

Posted: at 5:35 pm

CHICAGO, Oct. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As Surgical Information Systems (SIS) delivers its advanced clinical documentation solution, SIS Charts, to the growing ambulatory surgery center (ASC) market, it has partnered with Neximatic to provide automated vital sign charting for operating rooms and PACUs, bringing a new level of workflow efficiency to ASC clinicians.

SIS is a leader in ASC software, and SIS Charts is an intuitive, cloud-based platform designed to make ASC clinical documentation easy. Automating vital sign charting with Neximatic's solution eliminates the manual data entry process so clinical staff can focus their attention on patient care and not the documentation. It also ensures a comprehensively charted record that improves workflow efficiency in ASCs.

"We have been successful in deploying SIS Charts with vital sign charting automation in multiple facilities during the past six months," said Doug Rempfer, SIS chief operating officer. "Our clients appreciate this feature as it streamlines documentation and helps improve patient care by removing this manual step."

The Neximatic solution works seamlessly with a surgery center's existing IT infrastructure, making installation simple. The feature can be enabled in less than one day.

"We are very excited to partner with SIS," said Bobby Wong, President of Neximatic. "Our solution supports vitals capture in operating rooms and PACUs, enabling end-to-end vital sign charting automation for ASCs."

About Neximatic, Inc.

Neximatic, Inc. is a technology provider for electronic health record (EHR) providers, enabling new features in EHRs. Its vital sign streaming solution has enabled automatic charting in AIMS and tele-health applications. For more information, please visit http://www.neximatic.comor email toinfo@neximatic.com.

About Surgical Information Systems (SIS)

Surgical Information Systems (SIS) delivers surgical information solutions to healthcare providers. Our commitment to deliver on promises made to our clients and each other drives everything we do. SIS has grown to serve the needs of nearly 3,000 surgical facilities in over 10,000 operating rooms across the United States and Canada. Our deep understanding of surgical services has allowed us to develop proven solutions and services that improve the financial, operational, and clinical performance of those we serve. Healthcare is constantly changing, and we change with it. We continue to innovate using input from our clients and the market in order to meet their evolving needs. For more information, please visit:https://www.sisfirst.com.

Contact:844-890-6095info@neximatic.com

Automation will hit this demographic the most: McKinsey report – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 5:35 pm

Advances in automation are undoubtedly changing the nature of work.

And a newreportfrom McKinsey & Co. has highlighted a specific demographic most at risk of the impending automation wave African Americans. With the problem being particularly acute for men, and those without a college degree.

The core reason is because African American workers are overrepresented in high-displacement job categories like office support secretaries, fast-food and service workers, mechanics and other production positions.

smiling african american businessman with crossed arms in office

Its an issue, William Goodloe, President and CEO of Sponsors For Educational Opportunity (SEO), said could very well could happen without strong consistent and meaningful intervention.

This is why SEO exists, to help create a more equitable society. And we realize that talent is widely distributed, but yet it's unevenly developed, Goodloe said in an interview with Yahoo Finances On The Move. And we're in the talent development business, and helping close the opportunity gap for young people of color in particular, by reverse engineering and developing out talent development to help them meet the existing standards for success in college as well as in careers.

The McKinsey study goes on to say that the impact on African American men could be mitigated by both public- and private-sector institutions pursuing large-scale economic-development strategies to increase jobs and opportunities.

Bridgette Webb is a producer at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @bridgetteAwebb.

UK financial services firms leading the way on automation – City A.M.

Posted: at 5:35 pm

Financial services firms in the UK are integrating robo-advisers into their ranks faster than their global competitors in a bid to harness the technology to retain customers or poach new ones, new research has found.

While 37 per cent of UK financial services firms surveyed have implemented robotic processing automation (RPA) a technology used to automate human activities only 28 per cent of global firms have adopted the technology, according to a report published today by PwC.

Read more: Britains financial system prepared for worst case Brexit scenario, says Bank of England

But the rise of automation is presenting firms with the dilemma of how to balance the need for human interaction with the digitally enhanced offerings customers also expect, said PwC partner Rav Hayer.

Most consumers want the reassurance of some human oversight alongside access to a human adviser for key decisions, said Hayer.

This dilemma appears to be preoccupying firms, with 27 per cent of UK firms reporting they do not think they are meeting customer expectations with the right balance of digital and direct human contact.

Although UK firms may lead the way when it comes to robo-advisors, the research found they are much less likely to have implemented big data (29 per cent vs 46 per cent) or the internet of things (15 per cent vs 31 per cent) than their international rivals.

Financial services firms in the UK are also falling slightly behind on the integration of fintech. While 44 per cent of UK companies reported having fully embedded fintech across their strategic operating model, almost half (48 per cent) of global firms have embedded the technology.

Fintech is also driving job creation within financial services in the UK. According to the report, the majority (63 per cent) of firms are creating new positions as a result of the technology.

Yet despite the majority of UK financial services firms hiring from both technology companies and their own sector to find employees with the skills needed for fintech, almost half (46 per cent) of companies are struggling to fill these new positions.

Read more: AI investment in UK reaches record high

To bridge the fintech skills gap, firms need to prioritise technology at executive level, Hayer said, highlighting the finding that only 34 per cent of UK firms have a C-suite level executive responsible for leading the companys tech or digital strategy.

Increased C-Suite involvement will pave the way for more investment and bring a more attractive environment for real innovation and partnership with fintechs, he said.

Main image credit: Getty

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Universal Robots Powers Vectis Automation’s New Cobot Welding Tool, Offers Leverage to Manufacturers Addressing Labor Crisis and Rising Costs -…

Posted: at 5:35 pm

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vectis is Latin for leverage. Leverage now extended to manufacturers seeking a low-risk, low-cost, easy-to-use answer to increase welding productivity amid the ongoing shortage of skilled labor.

The Vectis Cobot Welding Tool helps manufacturers boost productivity by reducing the learning curve, deployment time, risk, and cost of robotic welding. Powered by Universal Robots UR10e collaborative robot, the Vectis Cobot Welding Tool is a portable, safe, versatile, and extremely easy-to-use solution that is even available as a low-risk, no-capital rent-to-own option. FABTECH attendees will be the first to experience the new cobot welder as it debuts in Universal Robots FABTECH booth B35083 in Chicago, November 11-14, 2019.

We saw Universal Robots prevail as the undisputed leader in the cobot market, lowering automation barriers through ease of use and fast deployment, says Josh Pawley, director of business development and co-founder of Vectis Automation, that has joined Universal Robots growing network of Certified System Integrators. We wanted to build our cobot welder on this platform, providing the same user experience to welders that manufacturers in many other industry verticals now enjoy, he says, adding that the Vectis Cobot Welder is commonly 25-40 percent less expensive than the all-in cost of a small traditional robot welder.

Users of the Vectis Cobot Welding Tool are typically set up entirely by the customer within a few hours of system arrival and welding within 10 minutes of setup with no programming experience necessary. Vectis Lets Weld Together intuitive programming interface is accessible directly through the UR cobots own teach pendant. Programs can be created, saved, and later recalled in order to handle the numerous part numbers typical for high mix/low volume shops. The cobot welder can weld thick and thin parts, and the Vectis Weaving Software allows manufacturers to set weave parameters for cleanly tied-in welds with a Weld Template Library that provides parameter starting points for common weld sizes, such as one-click tack welds, square tubes with tight-radii corners, round tubes, and multi-segment paths.

We are delighted to be selected as the cobot of choice by a welding company with founders having more than 60 years of welding automation experience under the hood, says Stu Shepherd, regional sales director of Universal Robots North America division. Vectis solution meets the ongoing welding requests we receive from customers. We look forward to seeing the companys deep application expertise manifest itself in the cobot realm and cant wait to share this expertise with FABTECH attendees and beyond.

The Vectis system comes with all hardware provided fully integrated onto a 3ft x 6ft mobile modular fixturing cart enabling metal fabricators to bring the cobot to the work, or the work to the cobot with no anchoring nor dedicated footprint required. The Vectis Cobot Welding Tool does not need three-phase power but runs off a 120V wall outlet, the welder can run on anything between 208V and 575V including 240V single phase.

The cobot welder includes:

Download videos, images and brochure here.

About Universal RobotsUniversal Robots was founded in 2005 to make robot technology accessible to all by developing small, user-friendly, reasonably priced, flexible industrial robots that are safe to work with. Since the first collaborative robot (cobot) was launched in 2008, the company has experienced considerable growth with the user-friendly cobot now sold worldwide. The company, which is a part of Teradyne Inc., is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, and has subsidiaries and regional offices in the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Turkey, China, India, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Mexico. In 2018, Universal Robots had a revenue of USD 234 million. For more information, please visit http://www.universal-robots.com or read our blog at blog.universal-robots.com.

About Vectis AutomationVectis Automation is a team of engineers in Fort Collins, CO with 60+ years of combined experience in the robotic welding industry. The company is a Universal Robots Certified Systems Integrator and provides a fully integrated and extremely easy-to-use cobot welding tool, along with welding application expertise to help evaluate end-user applications and consult on best practices for successful implementation. http://www.vectisautomation.com

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Universal Robots Powers Vectis Automation's New Cobot Welding Tool, Offers Leverage to Manufacturers Addressing Labor Crisis and Rising Costs -...

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UWMadison physicist awarded Packard Fellowship – University of Wisconsin-Madison

Posted: at 5:33 pm

Shimon Kolkowitz, a University of WisconsinMadison assistant professor of physics, has been selected as one of 22 members of the 2019 class of Packard Fellows for Science and Engineering.

The fellowship, awarded to early-career scientists from across the U.S., provides $875,000 of funding over five years. Kolkowitz will use the funds to develop his research program in ultra-precise atomic clocks, which he will use to investigate such fundamental aspects of physics as the relationship between quantum mechanics and gravity and the nature of dark matter.

Shimon Kolkowitz is the third UWMadison physics professor to be named a Packard Fellow in the 32 years of the award. Photo: Steven Burrows / JILA

These clocks are the most precise instruments that humankind has ever built, Kolkowitz says. Im interested in asking, How does that precision give us access to new physics?

One of the first research areas Kolkowitz plans to explore is a new test of Einsteins general theory of relativity. When first developing the theory, Einstein suggested that people in a closed elevator could not tell the difference between the elevator on Earth under the influence of gravity and the elevator accelerating through space in zero gravity.

Thats called the Einstein equivalence principle, and it is at the heart of general relativity. The predictions of general relativity have been tested in a number of different ways and have always been confirmed, Kolkowitz explains. But the basic question of, Can I tell the difference between acceleration and gravity? has not been directly tested. And I think it will be a lot of fun and really cool to directly realize that thought experiment in my lab.

Atomic clocks keep time by measuring the differences between energy levels of the electrons in atoms. The clocks timekeeping precision is affected by many factors, such as the surrounding environment, the temperature of the atoms, and the type of atom used. The atomic clocks constructed in Kolkowitzs lab are made of strontium atoms that have both been gathered into a small sphere and cooled to just above absolute zero the coldest temperature that can exist by lasers.

Kolkowitzs ultra-precise atomic clock, an ultra-high vacuum containing strontium atoms that are trapped and cooled to 1/1000th of a degree above absolute zero by lasers, will test Einsteins general theory of relativity. Photo: Shimon Kolkowitz

The general theory of relativity says that gravity affects the passage of time, so two atomic clocks at different heights, which experience slight differences in the strength of gravity, will tick at different rates. Currently, that time difference has been observed between two atomic clocks that are about a foot apart in height. A unique feature of Kolkowitzs clock design is that it allows two clocks to exist in the same environment. As a result, in the first set of experiments he plans to conduct, he expects they will be able to measure differences in time due to gravity at centimeter or millimeter height differences.

Next, he wants to measure differences in time between two accelerating clocks that are separated by the same distance this time horizontally instead of vertically to take the effects of gravity out of the equation.

According to the equivalence principle, we should see the same disagreement between the two clocks from the acceleration as from gravity, Kolkowitz says. And thats an effect that has never been observed before.

The Packard Fellowship gives me the freedom to explore research avenues that might not have obvious or immediate applications, but that can inspire the imagination, and that will hopefully lead in unexpected directions.

Shimon Kolkowitz

Kolkowitz admits he is not entirely sure what the implications of these experiments may be. One possibility he is exploring with theoretical physics colleagues is whether related experiments with these quantum-physics-based clocks can complement or improve upon high energy particle physics experiments in the search for new physics, such as the nature of dark matter or dark energy.

These experiments are kind of out there, Kolkowitz says. The Packard Fellowship gives me the freedom to explore research avenues that might not have obvious or immediate applications, but that can inspire the imagination, and that will hopefully lead in unexpected directions.

Professor Kolkowitzs innovative research onprecision metrology with quantum systems is original and highly relevant for quantum information science, says Sridhara Dasu, professor and chair of the physics department at UWMadison. We look forward to his continued success in establishing a flourishing research program in the department.

Kolkowitz is the third UWMadison physics professor to be named a Packard Fellow in the 32 years of the award, after Thad Walker (1992) and Cary Forest (1998). Previously named Packard Fellows include Kolkowitzs former advisor as well as two Nobel laureates.

I feel that Im following in the footsteps of some very impressive people, and thats a real honor for me, Kolkowitz says.

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University’s new supercomputer, Traverse, to aid plasma physics and fusion research – The Daily Princetonian

Posted: at 5:33 pm

Photo Courtesy of Denise Applewhite / Office of Communications

The Universitys High-Performance Computing Research Center (HPCRC) has acquired a new supercomputer, named Traverse, which will aid research at the Universitys Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), as well as other University programs.

The addition joins six other computing clusters: Tiger, Dell, and Perseus, which are the largest and reserved primarily for faculty, as well as Nobel, Adroit, and Tigressdata, which are available to students. All the clusters are housed in a building on the Forrestal campus, about three miles from the main campus.

Supercomputers require high amounts of energy, and HPCRC typically uses 1.8 megawatts of electricity and is equipped with backup generators. The clusters can also overheat, which requires ventilating them with cooled air. The facility is efficient enough to have earned a LEED Gold rating.

Thanos Panagiotopoulos, the chair of the chemical and biological engineering department, said that Traverse will allow Princetons Chemistry in Solution and at Interfaces (CSI) lab to model the interactions of a few hundred molecules at a time.

We do problems involving very large-scale calculations that connect quantum mechanics with the collective properties of water and aqueous solutions, Panagiotopoulos said. The simulations usually last only on the order of a few picoseconds but can help CSI understand the atomistic dynamics of various materials.

Roberto Car, director of CSI and the Ralph W. *31 Dornte Professor in Chemistry at the University, said that his group of researchers now uses a new, more efficient mathematical construction, called a deep neural network, which uses machine learning to compute the classical mechanics forces in any number of arrangements that share the same statistical probability. Researchers derive the interaction potentials from density functional theory, which considers the quantum mechanics of the atoms in their ground states.

Having access to that kind of machine at Princeton will allow us to do this work on our code and experiment with the capabilities offered by this architecture, Car said.

Traverse has a similar architectural structure to Summit, the most powerful supercomputer in the world, housed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Traverse is a 1.4-petaflop system, making it capable of 1.4 million billion floating-point calculations per second. It is on the TOP500 list, a ranking of the 500 most powerful supercomputers based on standard tests.

Panagiotopoulos and Car noted that Traverse will soon be overtaken by more powerful supercomputers. Car predicted that exascale systems, which would be capable of a billion billion calculations per second and function 1,000 times faster than petascale ones, will be built in the next few years. He noted that PPPL will likely be able to use technology developed at Oak Ridge.

What sets Traverse apart from the previous HPCRC clusters is its architecture described by Car as a hybrid architecture that consists of CPU [central processing unit] and GPUs [graphics processing units]. The clusters were built by IBM, and the GPUs were supplied by Nvidia, which sells GPUs for many personal computers and gaming systems.

Car said the first exascale supercomputers will share a similar architecture to Traverse, meaning that the work required to adapt the researchers current algorithms to Traverse will remain useful.

Traverse will help PPPL model the movement of plasma in its tokamak NSTX-U, the largest of its kind in the world, to better understand how to control the plasma on a millisecond timescale. PPPL was founded in 1951 and has been working, among other projects, to create a viable fusion reactor potentially capable of generating virtually unlimited energy.

Traverse was financed by the University, and it will be used by graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty at the University, as well as PPPL, which is managed by the Department of Energy.

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University's new supercomputer, Traverse, to aid plasma physics and fusion research - The Daily Princetonian

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Quantum weirdness could allow a person-sized wormhole to last forever – New Scientist News

Posted: at 5:33 pm

By Chelsea Whyte

L. CALCADA / EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Fancy a trip down a wormhole? We have never been quite sure whether these portals through space-time could exist long enough for anything to travel through. Now calculations suggest they could stick around for a while perhaps as long as the universe itself.

Wormholes are essentially two black holes connected together. Two types could theoretically exist. A non-traversable wormhole is like a room with two doors that can only be used from the outside the doors are black holes through which things could enter, but never escape. These are not very interesting, as any astronaut who is brave enough to venture in wont be able to make it back to tell the story, says Diandian Wang at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Traversable wormholes are also possible, but up until now we didnt know whether they could exist for long enough for anything to pass through in practice.

For such a wormhole to form, space-time needs to change shape from being like a flat sheet to having holes in it. In classical physics, this cant happen. But the rules of quantum mechanics seem to allow for space-time to spontaneously change shape, although this is likely to only be for very short periods.

Wang has now worked on a scenario involving string theory, in which the fundamental ingredient of reality are tiny strings. If one of these strings breaks, it can create a traversable wormhole. It contains energy, and when it breaks, that energy becomes two black holes at each end of the string, says Wang.

Researchers had shown this was a possibility before, but it seemed the energy would force the two black holes to zoom apart from each other, snapping the wormhole.

Now, Wang and his team have calculated that the curvature of space-time could counteract this acceleration, keeping the black holes static and allowing the throat of the wormhole to remain open.This scenario is extremely unlikely, and becomes even more unlikely the longer the wormhole is and the larger the two black holes are.

This means that a wormhole big enough for a person to travel through is much less likely than one through which light could be sent. Thanks to quantum mechanics, though, the probability of either happening isnt zero.

Wangs team also calculated that, once a traversable wormhole exists, it could remain stable for at least as long as the universe has existed and maybe forever.

Our previous work showed that wormholes can be traversable, says Aron Wall at the University of Cambridge. But we did not describe a process to create the wormhole. He says Wangs calculations show how one could be created from scratch.

Wall points out, however, that Wangs wormholes couldnt be used to time travel or move faster than the speed of light. Were you to travel through one, he says, you would still be confined to moving slower than the speed of light.

Journal reference: Classical and Quantum Gravity, DOI: 10.1088/1361-6382/ab436f

The Power of Wrong Answers in Science Education – WIRED

Posted: at 5:33 pm

No one ever said science education was easy. Certainly the concepts we teach, like conservation of momentum or quantum mechanics, can be hard to grasp. But what really complicates the endeavor is that were also trying to teach a deeper lesson at the same timeto help students understand the nature of science itself.

All too often, young people get the impression that science is about learning certain laws and then applying them to different situations. After all, thats what we make them do on tests, to show that theyve been doing the work. But thats not it at all. Science is the process of building these concepts through the collection of experimental evidence.

And while Im on it, lets call these concepts what they really arenot laws, but models. Science is all about building and testing models. It's difficult to help students understand that aspect of science when we just give them the models to begin with. Sure, in physics we often include historical or mathematical evidence to support big ideas, but that often isnt enough.

Of course, we cant start from scratch. If students had to build their own models from the ground up, it would be like trying to learn programming by inventing computers. As Isaac Newton is supposed to have said, we stand on the shoulders of giants. We must take models built by others and go from there.

But theres still another challenge in science education that is less often recognized: Students often enter a course with their own unarticulated ideas about how the world works. We call these misconceptions, but its important to realize that these are also models, based on their life experiences, and that they must make sense to the student.

What Id like to suggest is that this actually provides a great way into the adventure of science and an opportunity to meet our objectives as educators. If you can create a situation that challenges students assumptions and produces conceptual conflict, that's a great opportunity for learning.

Heres a fun example that Ive used, on the topic of light rays. I set up a point light source and put a piece of cardboard in front of it. Theres a small pinhole in the cardboard and a white screen behind. What do you expect to see?

No surprise: A light shining through a pinhole makes a dot on the screen. Now Ill ask the students: What if I have TWO light sources with the same single hole?

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The Power of Wrong Answers in Science Education - WIRED

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Daily Archives: October 16, 2019

Partnership Connects Analytics and Shift Reporting – Automation World

Thailand and Japan agree to develop automation tech – OpenGov Asia

Neximatic Partners With Surgical Information Systems to Deliver Automated Vitals Charting to Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Market – P&T Community

Automation will hit this demographic the most: McKinsey report – Yahoo Finance

UK financial services firms leading the way on automation – City A.M.

Universal Robots Powers Vectis Automation’s New Cobot Welding Tool, Offers Leverage to Manufacturers Addressing Labor Crisis and Rising Costs -…

UWMadison physicist awarded Packard Fellowship – University of Wisconsin-Madison

University’s new supercomputer, Traverse, to aid plasma physics and fusion research – The Daily Princetonian

Quantum weirdness could allow a person-sized wormhole to last forever – New Scientist News

The Power of Wrong Answers in Science Education – WIRED

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