An implementation of the research-based learning (RBL) model and methodologies for undergraduate Computational Engineering students at Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus was undertaken to highlight the importance of involving undergraduate students in professional research activities early in their career (curriculum). We present here the results of this study. Four phases of the project are described: (1) a diagnosis of initial RBL competencies of students; (2) the presentation of an introductory workshop on research methodology by the teacher; (3) the design of a monograph by the students; and (4) the preparation of a research project by the students, including a sketch of a research paper and a written and oral presentation to a jury of staff research professors. The objective of the project was the design and evaluation of algorithms of Data Science, Big Data and Deep Learning to perform a data processing analysis related to the problem of metabolic syndrome and its surrogates in Mexico. The results indicate that the initial research competencies of undergraduate students are insufficient, although about 50% of the students think the contrary. The students were able to work in teams during the semester, and most teams, guided by the instructor, were capable of developing appropriate monographs and high-quality sketches for their proposed research papers. In most cases, students showed great improvements in their RBL skills in doing extensive literature reviews and in performing appropriate statistical analyses of databases. This work supports the contention that it is particularly important to start developing RBL competencies early in undergraduate engineering careers in order to prepare undergraduate students for future graduate studies as well as for their professional lives.

Although visualization remains a primary mode of interaction in simulations, touch is the most common way people use to interact with the physical objects. A greater sense of immersion in a learning environment can be reached when the user is able to feel and manipulate objects as compared to only seeing or listening. Despite the affordances of haptic technologies, which could serve as scaffolds for deep conceptual learning, their true potential in education has not been fully harnessed and little research has been done to investigate its effectiveness for learning difficult concepts. This study explores the potential of haptic technologies in supporting conceptual understanding of difficult concepts in science, specifically concepts related to electricity and magnetism. A pretest-posttest study identified if students improved their conceptual understanding of electricity and magnetism concepts. Specifically, this study identified (a) how students, with different physics background, conceptually interpreted the tactile learning experience in the context of the visualization, and (b) students’ perceptions on the use of haptic technologies for their learning, as well as their perceived usefulness and ease of use. Our results suggest that overall students significantly improved their conceptual understanding about electric fields for distributed charges after being exposed to a visuohaptic simulation guided activity. Regarding students’ prior coursework, students with high school-only physics background outperformed students who have been previously exposed to college-level physics courses 8% higher in the posttest average score. Similarly, students overall agreed that they enjoyed using the haptic device for learning and found the technology as easy to interact with. Implications for teaching and learning are provided as well as venues for future work.

In this paper, a map of the state of the art of recent medical simulators that provide evaluation and guidance for surgical procedures is performed. The systems are reviewed and compared from the viewpoint of the used technology, force feedback, learning evaluation, didactic and visual aid, guidance, data collection and storage, and type of solution (commercial or non-commercial). The works’ assessment was made to identify if—(1) current applications can provide assistance and track performance in training, and (2) virtual environments are more suitable for practicing than physical applications. Automatic analysis of the papers was performed to minimize subjective bias. It was found that some works limit themselves to recording the session data to evaluate them internally, while others assess it and provide immediate user feedback. However, it was found that few works are currently implementing guidance, aid during sessions, and assessment. Current trends suggest that the evaluation process’s automation could reduce the workload of experts and let them focus on improving the curriculum covered in medical education. Lastly, this paper also draws several conclusions, observations per area, and suggestions for future work.

Technological advances have been the main driver of enhancing human–computer interaction and interactive simulations have experienced exponential growth in recent years. However, visual and auditory channels are usually the only ones considered for educational simulations even though the sense of touch is also an important one. Touch allows us to recognize and interact with our surroundings. A common way to develop a visuo-haptic simulation in the area of interactive systems is by using a graphic and physics-based engine orchestrated with a haptic rendering framework. However, new solutions, such as professional game engines, have enabled the development of high-quality applications in much shorter time. In this paper, a novel architecture for fast development of interactive visuo-haptic applications in game engines is discussed. To validate the proposed architecture, the Haptic Device Integration for Unity (HaDIU) plugin was implemented. Simulations were implemented to verify the operability of haptic devices. Each scenario was properly modelled and has different haptic objectives. Furthermore, to validate that the usage of this approach provides better visualizations than an existing single purpose application, an experimental study was performed. Results suggest that by using this approach faster development of interactive visuo-haptic simulators can be achieved than using traditional techniques.