Constructivism-Based Methodology for Teaching Artificial Intelligence Topics Focused on Sustainable Development

• Main Authors: Georgina Mota-Valtierra, Juvenal Rodríguez-Reséndiz, Gilberto Herrera-Ruiz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-08-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: constructive learning; sustainable development; undergraduate education; multidisciplinary project; signal processing; artificial intelligence
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/17/4642

This article proposes the creation of a course based on a series of practical sessions, where the students have to develop their practical knowledge about artificial intelligence techniques, specifically multilayer perceptron. The novelty of this paper is based on the constructivism methodology regarding artificial intelligence and sustainable development. Moreover, it can be implemented in different majors because of the flexibility in certain aspects. It is oriented to evaluate skills in the broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context. The proposal helps the students to turn theoretical concepts into more tangible objects where they can build their knowledge by programming their implementations in software. Then, programming codes for practicing the neural networks theory, finite impulse response, empirical mode decomposition and discrete wavelet transform are achieved to compare percentage classification between different techniques. Also, it measures the interaction between the student and the theoretical mathematics of artificial intelligence. The continuous evaluations at the end of the practical sessions corroborate the increase in the knowledge of the students. A study based on rubrics illustrates an increase in the average grade obtained by the students in the elaboration of each practice. Finally, a senior project is carried out by taking into account sustainable development issues and the usage of tools of artificial intelligence.