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Sensorised Low-Cost Pencils for Developing Countries: A Quantitative Analysis of Handwriting Learning Progress in Children with/without Disabilities from a Sustainable Perspective

1
GI-IATa, UNESCO Chair on Support Technologies for Educational Inclusion, Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Cuenca 010102, Ecuador
2
atlanTTic Research Center, Department of Telematics Engineering, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10682; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410682
Received: 18 November 2020 / Revised: 12 December 2020 / Accepted: 16 December 2020 / Published: 21 December 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Sustainable Education and Approaches)
Learning to write is a demanding endeavour that requires a combination of linguistic, motor and cognitive skills. Some children suffer from delay or inability to acquire those skills, which often hampers their performance at school and brings about serious consequences for self-esteem, personal expectations and social relationships. The situation worsens in developing countries, due to the lack of resources and specialised personnel. With this background, this paper describes an experiment with a newly-developed sensorised pencil with triangular prism shape, which is shown to yield substantial improvements in children with/without special education needs. A team of experts in the areas of speech therapy, occupational therapy, educational psychology, physiotherapy and pedagogy have expressed very positive opinions about the sensorised pencil and the accompanying software for the acquisition and analysis of quantitative data about handwriting. Furthermore, the device stands out for its low cost in comparison with similar developments, which is a key factor to aid children from low-income families. This fact is explained with a success story of manufacturing and delivering sensorised pencils in the Ecuadorian province of Azuay, framed in a multi-layer sustainable development perspective based on collaboration of several institutions and individuals. View Full-Text
Keywords: handwriting development; sensorised pencils; third-grade and fourth-grade children; special education needs; sustainable technology development handwriting development; sensorised pencils; third-grade and fourth-grade children; special education needs; sustainable technology development
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MDPI and ACS Style

Serpa-Andrade, L.J.; Pazos-Arias, J.J.; López-Nores, M.; Robles-Bykbaev, V.E. Sensorised Low-Cost Pencils for Developing Countries: A Quantitative Analysis of Handwriting Learning Progress in Children with/without Disabilities from a Sustainable Perspective. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10682. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410682

AMA Style

Serpa-Andrade LJ, Pazos-Arias JJ, López-Nores M, Robles-Bykbaev VE. Sensorised Low-Cost Pencils for Developing Countries: A Quantitative Analysis of Handwriting Learning Progress in Children with/without Disabilities from a Sustainable Perspective. Sustainability. 2020; 12(24):10682. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410682

Chicago/Turabian Style

Serpa-Andrade, Luis J., José J. Pazos-Arias, Martín López-Nores, and Vladimir E. Robles-Bykbaev 2020. "Sensorised Low-Cost Pencils for Developing Countries: A Quantitative Analysis of Handwriting Learning Progress in Children with/without Disabilities from a Sustainable Perspective" Sustainability 12, no. 24: 10682. https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410682

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