High School Students to
Challenge Design Proposal of the Local Shopping Center as One Part of SSH
Projects Designated by MEXT
-Expressing Functions They Expect in the Area
with 3D VR Under the Guidance of a Regional Advisor Tomohiro Fukuda, Associate
Professor of Osaka University
"Super Science High Schools (SSHs)"
are upper secondary schools designated by Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to carry out research and development with
emphasis on science, technology, and mathematics for the purpose of developing
internationally minded human resources in the fields of science and technology,
based on the project started from the 2002 fiscal year. This issue picks up one
of those SSHs, "Hyogo Prefectural Kakogawa Higashi High School", with special
focus on "KAKOGAWA Design Drawn by Higashi High School Students" Group in the
General Science (GS) Course that has pursued research on a given
subject.
A massive amount of wisdom is assembled in a town, which should originally
be the place where various problems can be solved... Based on such a point
of view, the Group has been active throughout 2007 - 2008 fiscal years
with a research subject of "What is town planning suitable for Kakogawa
like?" |
Mr. Hitoshi Takeuchi, academic and career counseling director and
teacher of the School took care of the Group. Besides, Tomohiro Fukuda,
Associate Professor of Environmental Design, Sustainable Energy &
Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Osaka University has been
supporting the activity. This was realized in the context that those two were
old friends and that Prof. Fukuda's approach to environmental design using 3
dimensional (3D) CG and VR (virtual reality) were convinced to be very effective
in the subject research.
Indeed, in actualizing the plan, it was decided
to incorporate 3D VR technology to use as a base according to Prof. Tomohiro
Fukuda's suggestion. As a tool to generate 3D VR spaces, to carry out simulation
of different proposals, and to make presentations of the generated data, a 3D
real-time VR software product of FORUM8 "UC-win/Road" was adopted.
We
interviewed Prof. Tomohiro Fukuda, Mr. Hitoshi Takeuchi, and the members of the
Group.
Kakogawa Higashi High School and SSH project |
Hyogo Prefectural Kakogawa Higashi High
School is known as one of the best high schools oriented toward preparation for
university entrance examinations in the prefecture. Its predecessor, Kakogawa
Higashi Junior High School was founded in 1924 under the prewar education
system. The educational reform made it changed into the present organization
maintained since 1948. Reflecting the tendency of the students of the School
towards desiring to go on to 4-year national or public universities and that
more than half of them are science students, the science and mathematics course
was established in 1986 in addition to the regular course. In 2003, the science
and mathematics course was reorganized into the aforementioned "GS Course" for
the purpose of promoting search for natural science through voluntary activity
of subject research as well as educational activity in cooperation with
universities and research institutions and developing the students' ability and
aptitudes for this. Not only science and mathematics but also English have been
emphasized as key subjects aiming at developing human resources who can
demonstrate leadership in an international society to the fullest.
In
this context, the School obtained designation of "SSH" from NEXT in the 2006
fiscal year (for 5 years of designation period). Taking advantage of this
opportunity, the School held up a slogan, "From KAKO to the Future" with the
word "KAKO" meaning "Kakogawa" and "the Past". In concrete, the slogan means
that the school promotes research and development with GS Course as its core
based on 1) training students who have highly advanced knowledge of natural
science along with ability to explore and study voluntarily and originality to
create something new, 2) cooperation with communities and regional business, 3)
training students who have ethical viewpoints, 4) training
internationally-minded students, and 5) assisting club activities in the
scientific field.
One of these approaches to research and development is
"subject research". Utilizing "general learning" classes for the 1st and 2nd
grades of GS course (40 students for each grade), it has been implemented in
small groups (about 5 members for each group). Each group is attended by
"Regional Advisors" consisting of researchers and engineers in the region who
are familiar with science, in addition to the assigned teachers of the School.
It is so organized that both advisors and teachers are to guide the students in
cooperation. Each group is supposed to work on the same research subject for 2
years continuously. "KAKOGAWA Design Drawn by Higashi High School Students", the
subject featured in this article, was developed throughout the 2007-2008 fiscal
years.
The Story Behind Grappling with Subject Research "KAKOGAWA Design"
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As their individual motives, the
students of GS Course who took part in the subject research of the Group
(currently the 3rd graders) listed up expectation towards possibilities brought
about by design, or their interest in environmental design. However, they mostly
indicated that it was rather taking on the unknown, and especially it was the
first time for most of the students to handle CG and VR that were used as
tools.
On the other hand, Associate Professor Tomohiro Fukuda, who is a
graduate of the School, also participated in the SSH working and steering
committee that provided guidance, advice, and evaluation from a professional
point of view about the whole SSH program of the School. In addition, about the
time of designation of SSH, he gave a lecture on his own activities for his
junior students.
Under such circumstances, he came up with a program
that should give some insight into an advanced approach to environmental design
with their local town Kakogawa as its subject, following that Prof. Fukuda was
asked to be a regional advisor for the research project "KAKOGAWA Design Drawn
by Higashi High School Students", which Mr. Hitoshi Takeuchi took charge
of.
He put his hopes into this program that young people would take this
occasion for turning their eyes to their own town with affection before they
leave the town after graduating high school, as was often the case for there are
few universities and work places around there.
Also in that process, a
framework of the approach was planned that students would make a field
investigation in town on their own to find research subjects, use scientific
technology such as CG and VR, and then make proposals. "When an image is
rotating on a CAD screen, operations of trigonometric functions or matrices are
conducted at an ultrahigh speed." Existing knowledge can be utilized by
incorporating it into a computer like this. Regarding unknown knowledge,
however, the students themselves must find it out and incorporate it there. In
order to realize this, it was aimed to inform the students of the importance of
studying subjects given in high school including mathematics and to have them
actually feel it through using software such as VR, as Prof. Tomohiro Fukuda
recalled.
To Expand from Investigation of the Present Situation to Design Proposal
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In October 2007,
Substantial activity of "KAKOGAWA Design Drawn by Higashi High School Students"
got started with 6 members of the 1st graders in GS course. At the beginning,
they introduced themselves and worked on categorizing places around each
member's home and the School into their favorite places and the ones that are
not.
Next, they conducted town walking for the purpose of grasping the
present situation centering on the urban area of Kakogawa city twice in December
and January next year (2008) with the rout changed. The results were not only
put directly on a map but also summarized in an analog way using stickers. In
addition, it was expressed in a digital way using the Google Map, all of which
were organized as the product of the first fiscal year.
Through these
tasks, in the 2nd year of the subject research, the target was focused on
"Jikemachi Shopping Center". The shopping center is located in the central urban
area close to JR Kakogawa Station, in which many of the stores have been
shuttered in recent years, contrary to the adjacent Verde Mall that is
relatively busy. Being close to the School, it led to the concept of turning
flow of people back to the shopping center, making the town come to life from
the students' point of view.
First, they made a map of 1/500, and
plotted information of existing buildings or business types. Second, the
students needed to complete the process from design to simulation and proposal
on their own utilizing 3D VR technology within the limited time and budget for
the subject research. Consequently, they adopted Google SketchUp Pro for
generating 3D models while satisfying those conditions, GIMP (GNU Image
Manipulation Program) for processing images, and UC-win/Road for simulating in
various ways with 3D VR and making presentation with generated data,
respectively. In August, they took an intensive one-day course of lectures on
how to use UC-win/Road from a FORUM8 staff member. Then, they proceeded on
learning the skill to use necessary software and generating 3D models for the
present situation of Jikemachi under the guidance of Prof. Tomohiro Fukuda.
In parallel with this, after brainstorming on the issues of Jikemachi
Shopping Center, they used the KJ method to classify the results. Then, they
narrowed down the items from different points of view, for example, the ones
that were attractive and sustainable, or what the students thought "I want to do
this kind of things" and "People may gather if this is done".
Following
the results, 6 members were assigned to their respective territories out of
existing vacant stores so that they overwrapped each other within a 20-meter
radius with mutual relationship. From December 2008 through early January 2009,
each member designed individually a new building that would realize the function
he or she paid attention to, including 1) a store for thick pancakes filled with
sweet bean jam, purchasable while one is riding on a bicycle, 2) a multi-storey
bicycle park, 3) a club with live music, 4) a variety shop, 5) a library, 6) a
rest area, using Google SketchUp Pro. The individual models created were
exported into UC-win/Road one by
one, and they kept on elaborating the details of each model such as a building
and people until immediately before the presentation.
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Library
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Increasing Interest in VR
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On
February 4, a program was held for 8 groups in the class (GS Course) to make
presentations. On this occasion, the KAKOGAWA Design Group edited an animation
work of about 2 minutes with VR data for explaining on PowerPoint. Subsequently,
the Group also made a presentation on the research product in a poster session
representing the school in the "Science Fair in Hyogo (joint program of
presentations)" held on February 7 at Hyogo Prefectural Kobe High School. In
addition, at the SSH research presentation program held on February 18, while
all the groups (18 groups in the 1st and 2nd grades altogether) joined the
poster session, the Group was chosen as one of the 5 groups allowed to make a
presentation. Mr. Takeuchi emphasizes the advantage of VR, saying that they were
able to demonstrate the design proposals effectively through using VR in the
presentation within limited time.
Besides, he realized once again the
potential of VR technology as well as the quickness of high school students to
learn how to use software. With the software products purchased and a certain
degree of knowledge obtained, he desires to explore effective ways of applying
them to other subject research projects.
Prof. Tomohiro Fukuda says that
in this subject research, it was hard to judge how much he could expect time
(burden) on the students' side and how far he should guide the students while
aiming to encourage their voluntary research. Moreover, he was uncertain about
how much understanding and cooperation could be offered by the staff in charge
on the School's side whose specialty was not town planning. In practice, though,
their very flexible and positive response has led to good results, as he
recalls.
We are most grateful to everyone involved for spending time with
us for the interview.
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ITE 2009 Phoenix,
Technical Conference and Exhibit |
ITE 2009 Phoenix, Technical Conference and
Exhibit
March 22-24, Phoenix Convention Center
Location: Phoenix,
Arizona, USA
The ITE Technical Conference and Exhibition was held in Phoenix, Arizona this
year. ITE stands for the Institute of Transportation Engineers and is an
international organization whose goal is to facilitate the development of
transportation systems . ITE seeks to assist professionals in the advancement
and development of transportation systems in the areas of planning, design,
safety, implementation, and policy creation, to meet growing
needs.
FORUM8 exhibited at this conference with the aid of the newly
established FORUM8 AZ office. At this exhibition, a simulator was used to
highlight UC-win/Road and its capabilities, including simulator connectivity.
Displayed with the simulator was the 'Digital Phoenix Project', a large digital
model of the City of Phoenix, host city for the event, created in UC-win/Road.
This allowed FORUM8 to display a number of features relevant to the conference,
while enabling attendees to actually drive through the streets surrounding the
convention center. This allowed for the conveyance of how UC-win/Road can be
used to effectively show developing infrastructure including for the use of road
and rail systems. Further, many companies were interested in how to use
UC-win/Road's 3D capabilities to display data that exists only in 2D format,
including trajectories of people and vehicles.
Many exhibitors who
participated were hardware focused, creating new signs and lighting systems for
road development. FORUM8 promoted the notion of UC-win/Road as an effective tool
for expressing how signs may look and perform in real life before their creation
through the use of VR.
In summary, FORUM8 was one of the few software
providers allowing them to stand out in the exhibition to those looking to use
VR for advancing their transportation system development.
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