The document discusses a project at the University of Northampton focused on environmental education through activities involving junkbots and virtual reality in geography. This initiative included engaging students in waste management, building robots, and experiencing virtual field trips with Oculus Rift technology. Feedback from participants indicated a mix of enjoyment and challenges, particularly with hands-on activities and the use of VR due to issues like motion sickness.

1. Research at the University of Northampton
Dr Scott Turner
Associate Professor
Computing
Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology
Working with Environment – Junkbots and Visualising the Field
Wicksteed Park Science Café
14th March 2017

2. Working with Environment – Junkbots

3. How did it start?
• STE(A)M outreach.

4. Part 1
• Introduction to waste management, its
impact, recycling and reuse. Run by Dr Terry Tudor.
• Group activities
• To see more go to:
http://www.computing.northampton.ac.uk/~scott/pr
oject_session_B.html

5. Part 1
“...it was cool to know what my carbon footprint is.”
“... made me think about all the waste in the world.”
“[I] now recycle”
"I learnt a lot and calculating my carbon footprint was great"
"I learnt about [Eco] stuff"
"I found the waste management activity helpf[ul] because it
showed me the truth of what we could do to help the earth"
"I liked the presentation we were given...interesting facts which
we will remember a long time"

6. Part 2
o apply some of the ideas on problem solving to build a
little junk-clearing robot.
· Lego based robots are provided with two light
sensors;
· a play area (containing borders and area for the junk
to be placed);

7. Part 2
"Didn't get much of a go on this one"
"this was good however I didn't get to to do a lot"
"Really enjoyed it"
"It was really good and the amount I have learnt about Java is
incredible"
"It was cool because we could program them"
"It was good being the programmer"
“it was exciting and interesting but I didn’t get to do much”
“I didn’t really understand it !!!”
“I enjoyed this the most because it involved problem solving”

8. Part 3
• investigate adding ‘junk’ with a new electrical
components such as batteries and motors to use
vibrations to move the robots.

9. What did they do?

10. Part 3
"We had the [f]reedom to show the teachers what skills we
have"
"interesting overall"
"...but frustrating because modifications were frequent"
"The activity was very fun and creative. We experience lots of
difficulties to overcome."
"it was nice have time off timetable once in a while"
"I found that building the junk bots has made me some new
friends..."
"...as we[ we]re able to put any ideas forward to put ideas
forward to create our own creation"

11. Part 3
“I enjoyed the activity but I had a few problems” “I liked this
but it was hard at times”
“It was fun”
“I enjoyed doing practical work”
“needed imagination and construction”

12. Part 3: Junkbot Building Took Off
• Requests from Primary and Secondary Schools came
in.
• STEM clubs
• Nuffield Bursary Students
• Doodle Bot
• More Control

13. PicassoBot http://junkbots-hayleystevenson.blogspot.co.uk/

14. Raspberry Pi controlled - Hayden
http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/junkbot-raspberry-pi-3-controlling.html

15. Micro:bit Controlled –Matt
http://junkbots.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/controlling-junkbot-with-microbit.html

16. Working with Environment – Visualising the Field

17. VR in Geography
• The aim was to investigate the potential use and the
student experiences of using virtual reality (Oculus
Rift) devices for field trips. Computer-based (virtual
reality) field trips have in the past been perceived
negatively by students, often due to a poor
representation of reality. Currently these field trips
take place in 3D environments on a 2D computer
screen.

18. VR in Geography
• Partners in this:
• Naomi Holmes, School of Science and Technology,
Adel Gordon, Learning Technology

20. VR in Geography
• Thirteen Environmental and Geographical Sciences
student volunteers tested the Oculus Rift. The
students used the Oculus Tuscany Demo software to
work around a landscape, spending between 10 and
30 minutes in the landscape. No students had used
an Oculus Rift previously.

21. VR in Geography
• The students all saw the virtual reality as beneficial
only if used alongside or in addition to actual field
trip experiences
• Motion sickness was a common problem of using
the devices and so limits the time it can be used
• Overall the response was positive for the testers
• Other applications such as studying plant structure,
looking at past environments and cell structure were
suggested by the students

22. Working with Environment – Personal Summary

23. • The interesting things happen at the join between
subjects.