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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

Self-Efficacy Development In Elementary-Aged Learners Through Dance As An Algorithmic Thinking Tool, Niva Shrestha May 2022

Self-Efficacy Development In Elementary-Aged Learners Through Dance As An Algorithmic Thinking Tool, Niva Shrestha

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the effectiveness of a transdisciplinary approach in teaching computational thinking through dance to elementary-aged learners, with primary attention to females. With limited literature available on how pre-adolescents begin to construct conceptions of computer science and other engineering domains, including potential career pathways, the incentive of this project was to leverage a day camp for about 20 rising 3rd - 5th-grade learners to assess their identity development in computer science. Modules that teach computational thinking through dance paired with Unruly splats (block-based programmable electronic gadgets) were implemented. By conducting pre-and post-surveys and a …


The Exploration And Analysis Of Mancala From An Ai Perspective, Trevon J. Hunter Apr 2021

The Exploration And Analysis Of Mancala From An Ai Perspective, Trevon J. Hunter

Honors Theses

Through the study of popular games such as Chess and Go, countless artificial intelligence (AI) research has been conducted in an attempt to create algorithms equipped for adversarial search problems. However, there are still a plethora of avenues that offer insight into further development. Mancala is traditionally a two-player board game that originated in the East and offers a unique opponent-based playing experience. This thesis not only attempts to create a competitive AI algorithm for mancala games by analyzing the performance of several different algorithms on this classic board game, but it also attempts to extract applications that may have …


Scalable Co-Evolution Of Soft Robot Properties And Gaits, Davis K. Knox Jun 2011

Scalable Co-Evolution Of Soft Robot Properties And Gaits, Davis K. Knox

Honors Theses

The field of soft robotics is very promising; applications in-clude urban search and rescue and covert surveillance, but these projects are not yet realized, partly because of the difficulties in soft robot shape and locomotion design. Be-cause of this, traditional design methods do not prove to be effective. This project attempts to come up with solu-tions to this soft robot design problem; utilizing a genetic algorithm, a computer simulation of Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest,” this project attempts to make soft bodies move. This genetic algorithm evaluates each solution in simulation, and assigns each one a fitness based on distance …