Knowledge

19 pages, 2058 KiB

Open AccessArticle

CORE: Cultivation of Collaboration Skills via Educational Robotics

by Emmanouil A. Demetroulis, Ilias Papadogiannis, Manolis Wallace, Vassilis Poulopoulos and Angeliki Antoniou

Knowledge 2025, 5(2), 9; https://doi.org/10.3390/knowledge5020009 - 6 May 2025

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Abstract

Collaboration skills are an important component of 21st century skills and a critical skill for citizens of the future. In this work, we propose collaboration-oriented robotics education (CORE), a methodology aimed at fostering the development of collaboration skills in primary school students aged 11–12 via an adjusted approach to the teaching of educational robotics. In order to assess the existence and level of collaboration skills in a student, a suitable tool is also proposed. Using a collaboration-oriented performance evaluation test (COPE) for both a pre- and post-intervention measurement and applying both the conventional and CORE approaches to teaching educational robotics to 32 students, split into control and intervention groups, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Specifically, the experimental implementation shows that CORE statistically significantly increases the performance of the experimental group compared to the conventional way of teaching educational robotics. These results, in addition to validating CORE itself, demonstrate that the conventional approach to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) education is not necessarily already optimized, thus facilitating an overall re-evaluation of the field. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Knowledge Management in Learning and Education)

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8 pages, 172 KiB

Open AccessStudy Protocol

The Uncertainty–Certainty Matrix for Licensing Decision Making, Validation, Reliability, and Differential Monitoring Studies

by Richard Fiene

Knowledge 2025, 5(2), 8; https://doi.org/10.3390/knowledge5020008 - 28 Apr 2025

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Abstract

This research article proposes the use of an uncertainty–certainty matrix (UCM) for licensing decision making in the human services, which is the decision to issue a license to operate. It is a proposed study protocol and conceptual framework; it is not an empirical study. It shows how the matrix can be used in rule decision making and how it clearly shows when decision making has gone awry when bias is introduced into the decision making. It is also proposed to be used to make decisions in differential monitoring and in validation and reliability studies. This proposal presents a potential blueprint on how the UCM can be used within human services licensing as a decision-making tool. Full article

20 pages, 2209 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling the Knowledge Production Function Based on Bibliometric Information

by Boris M. Dolgonosov

Knowledge 2025, 5(2), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/knowledge5020007 - 3 Apr 2025

Viewed by 337

Abstract

An integral indicator of the development of society is the amount of knowledge, which can be measured by the number of accumulated publications in the form of patents, articles, and books. Knowledge production is examined on a global scale. We analyze existing econometric models and develop a generalized model that expresses the per capita knowledge production rate (called productivity) as a function of the amount of accumulated knowledge. The function interpolates two extreme cases, the first of which describes an underdeveloped society with very little knowledge and non-zero productivity, and the second, a highly developed society with a large amount of knowledge and productivity that grows according to a power law as knowledge accumulates. The model is calibrated using literature data on the number of patents, articles, and books. For comparison, we also consider the rapid growth in the global information storage capacity that has been observed since the 1980s. Based on the model developed, we can distinguish between two states of society: (1) a pre-information society, in which the knowledge amount is below a certain threshold and productivity is quite low, and (2) an information society with a super-threshold amount of knowledge and its rapid accumulation due to advanced computer technologies. An analysis shows that the transition to an information society occurred in the 1980s. Full article

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Knowledge, Volume 5, Issue 2 (June 2025) – 3 articles

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