Science and Computer Education Research Papers/Topics

Importance of Computer Science Education in the General Social Context

Introduction   The rise of information technology or IT has profoundly affected modern society. Consequently, computers have become devices of daily use. In this paper, the need of computer science education will be reflected on. The analysis will focus on the current situation of today’s society, where ITand telecommunications are playing a crucial role. World Wide Web and advanced IT tools have created new opportunities before computer science. So computers can  be c...

Evaluation of RepRap 3D Printer Workshops in K-12 STEM

As facilitators of 3D printer workshops, the authors developed a survey to gage how the printers are actually being used and whether they support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) requirements, especially in regard to engineering design. The survey response rate was 52% of 68 total participants with the majority conveying that 3D printers do facilitate student understanding of the engineering design process and that the workshops empowered them and their students to tackle projects...

Free and Open-source Control Software for 3-D Motion and Processing

RepRap 3-D printers and their derivatives using conventional firmware are limited by: 1) requiring technical knowledge, 2) poor resilience with unreliable hardware, and 3) poor integration in complicated systems. In this paper, a new control system called Franklin, for CNC machines in general and 3-D printers specifically, is presented that enables web-based three dimensional control of additive, subtractive and analytical tools from any Internet connected device. Franklin can be set up and c...

Open-Source Self-Replicating 3-D Printer Factory for Small-Business Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing with 3-D printers may be a key technology enabler for entrepreneurs seeking to use disruptive innovations, such as business models utilizing distributed manufacturing. Unlike centralized manufacturing, distributed manufacturing makes the parts and products (the prints) at (or closer to) the source of the demand, cutting out much of the traditional supply chain. Although many expect 3-D printing to take off at the household level and previous work has shown significant r...

Open-source Wax RepRap 3-D Printer for Rapid Prototyping Paper-Based Microfluidics

The open-source release of self-replicating rapid prototypers (RepRaps) has created a rich opportunity for low-cost distributed digital fabrication of complex 3-D objects such as scientific equipment. For example, 3-D printable reactionware devices offer the opportunity to combine open hardware microfluidic handling with lab-on-a-chip reactionware to radically reduce costs and increase the number and complexity of microfluidic applications. To further drive down the cost while improving the p...

Open-source 3-D Platform for Low-cost Scientific Instrument Ecosystem

The combination of open-source software and hardware provide technically feasible methods to create low-cost, highly-customized scientific research equipment. Open-source 3-D printers have proven useful for fabricating scientific tools. Here the capabilities of an open-source 3-D printer are expanded to become a highly-flexible scientific platform. An automated low-cost 3-D motion control platform is presented having the capacity to perform scientific applications including: i) 3-D printing o...

Free and Open Source Automated 3-D Microscope

Open-source technology not only has facilitated the expansion of the greater research community, but by lowering costs it has encouraged innovation and customizable design. The field of automated microscopy has continued to be a challenge in accessibility due the expense and inflexible, non-interchangeable stages. This paper presents a low-cost, open source microscope 3-D stage. A RepRap 3-D printer was converted to an optical microscope equipped with a customized, 3-D printed holder for a US...

Democratising design in scientific innovation: application of an open value network to open source hardware design

Open source hardware (OSH) development has been gaining momentum in recent years with several communities attempting to formalise its various aspects. One particularly promising area is the design of open source scientific hardware. Previous work has shown that the use of digital fabrication techniques has allowed scientists to make high-quality scientific tools for 1-10% of the cost of commercial proprietary equipment. Open source scientific hardware (and the open science movement in which i...

Open Source 3-D Printers: An Appropriate Technology for Developing Communities

The recent introduction of RepRap (Self-Replicating Rapid Prototyper) 3-D printers and the resultant open source technological improvements have resulted in affordable 3-D printing, enabling low-cost distributed manufacturing for individuals. This development and others such as the rise of open source-appropriate technology (OSAT) and solar powered 3-D printing are moving 3-D printing from an industry specific technology to one that could be used in the developing world for sustainable develo...

National Academy of Engineering: Introduction to Open Hardware in Science and Engineering

The articles in this issue look at how the development and use of free and open source hardware (FOSH or simply “open hardware”) are changing the face of science, engineering, business, and law. Free and open source software (FOSS) has proven very successful and now dominates the development of software on a global scale. It is available in source code (open source) and can be used, studied, copied, modified, and redistributed either without restriction or with restrictions only to ensur...

Impacts of Open Source Hardware in Science and Engineering

There is an opportunity to radically reduce the costs of experimental research while improving it by supporting the development of free and open source hardware (FOSH) for science and engineering. By harnessing a scalable open source method, federal funding is spent just once for the development of scientific equipment and then a return on this investment is realized by direct digital replication of scientific devices for only the costs of materials. FOSH for science and engineering has been ...