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This article is based on lecture notes for the Marie Curie Training school "Initial Training on Numerical Methods for Active Matter". It provides an introductory overview of modeling approaches for active matter and is primarily targeted at…
Concave mirrors are fundamental optical elements, yet some easily observed behaviors are rarely addressed in standard textbooks, such as the formation of multiple reflected images. Here we investigate self-imaging -- where the observer is…
This paper focuses on the educational journey of a computer engineering undergraduate student venturing into the domain of computer vision and robotics. It explores how optical flow and its applications can be used to detect moving objects…
Reinforcement learning (RL) makes it possible to train agents capable of achieving sophisticated goals in complex and uncertain environments. A key difficulty in reinforcement learning is specifying a reward function for the agent to…
Knowledge distillation has emerged as an effective strategy for compressing large language models' (LLMs) knowledge into smaller, more efficient student models. However, standard one-shot distillation methods often produce suboptimal…
Recent advances in deep thinking models have demonstrated remarkable reasoning capabilities on mathematical and coding tasks. However, their effectiveness in embodied domains which require continuous interaction with environments through…
The ability of a model to learn continually can be empirically assessed in different continual learning scenarios. Each scenario defines the constraints and the opportunities of the learning environment. Here, we challenge the current trend…
Recording surgery in operating rooms is an essential task for education and evaluation of medical treatment. However, recording the desired targets, such as the surgery field, surgical tools, or doctor's hands, is difficult because the…
When education researchers describe newly developed curricular materials, they typically concentrate on the research base behind their design, and the efficacy of the final products, but do not highlight the initial stages of creating the…
This article outlines a comprehensive redesign of an introductory physics laboratory course aimed at promoting active student engagement, enhancing scientific experimental skills and the development of expert-like attitudes. The redesign…
Imitation learning is an effective tool for robotic learning tasks where specifying a reinforcement learning (RL) reward is not feasible or where the exploration problem is particularly difficult. Imitation, typically behavior cloning or…
We tested the effectiveness on learning of hands-on, night-time laboratories that challenged student misconceptions in a non-major introductory astronomy class at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We present a new assessment examination…
We are interested in learning visual representations which allow for 3D manipulations of visual objects based on a single 2D image. We cast this into an image-to-image transformation task, and propose Iterative Generative Adversarial…
Self-Distillation is a special type of knowledge distillation where the student model has the same architecture as the teacher model. Despite using the same architecture and the same training data, self-distillation has been empirically…
Assessment of proficiency of the learner is an essential part of Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS). We use Item Response Theory (IRT) in computer-aided language learning for assessment of student ability in two contexts: in test sessions,…
In this paper we consider the problem of modelling when students end their session in an online mathematics educational system. Being able to model this accurately will help us optimize the way content is presented and consumed. This is…
Iterative peer grading activities may keep students engaged during in-class project presentations. Effective methods for collecting and aggregating peer assessment data are essential. Students tend to grade projects favorably. So, while…
Reinforcement Learning (RL) agents often exhibit learning behaviors that are not intuitively interpretable by human observers, which can result in suboptimal feedback in collaborative teaching settings. Yet, how humans perceive and…
Imitation learning is an effective approach for autonomous systems to acquire control policies when an explicit reward function is unavailable, using supervision provided as demonstrations from an expert, typically a human operator.…
The use of validated conceptual assessments alongside more standard course exams has become standard practice for the introductory courses in many physics departments. These assessments provide a more standard measure of certain learning…