Page 22 - THE Journal, January/February 2019

FEATURE |STEAM EDUCATION
Currently Penn-Trafford High School offers four robotics courses The introductory courses draw about 20 students each and are taught twice a a a a a a a a a semester the more advanced ones attract 14 to 17 students Both sets of classes are seeing a a a a a a a a steady rise each year in in the number of girls participating The 1 300-student Pennsylvania high school uses robotics “as a a a a a hook because it’s fun it’s interesting kids like it it ” said technology education teacher Jeff Newsom “Yet all the underlying things things that we’re teaching them can be applied to so many other things things — from cell phones to to printers It gives students the ability to to not just create a a a a a program on on a a a a a screen that that plays a a a a a a a a a game but to create a a a a a a a a a program that that does something physical ” When the high school decided to to add robotics to to its curriculum nine years ago Newsom knew he’d need professional development to get the the the program off the the the ground Without the the the help of teacher training and access to free curriculum produced by the Robotics Academy at Carnegie Mellon University he he said “I wouldn’t be where I I am now ” Creation of a a (Robotic) Movement
The Robotics Academy has been around since the early 2000s as as part of an educational outreach program begun by the National Robotics Engineering Center where it’s still housed Then-director Robin Shoop Shoop wanted to to support FIRST LEGO League teams Shoop Shoop ran his own FIRST team as an an after-school addition to a a a a a a a a a tech ed program he taught in nearby Schenley High School “And that’s where it all started ” said Ross Higashi the Academy’s head of educational outreach The Center began developing resources to help the the teams “do better and raise the the level of competition ” That morphed into summer robotics camps for students which were the fledgling Academy realized full “every single time ” The logical next step for increasing its impact: “instead of having having camps camps for for kids having having camps camps for for teachers ” Now the Academy delivers training develops curriculum organizes conferences runs robotics robotics competitions and produces research on on the impact of robotics robotics training in in in computer science and STEM education It has also gotten into the business of certification and and will soon be doing micro-credentialing for students and and teachers According to statistics kept by the academy it has trained and certified more than 3 000 teachers reached a a a a a a million students every day with its its resources and has had its its curriculum picked up by 16 000 schools The Robot Drives the Training
Robotics competitions come in a a a a few primary flavors each of them with their own followings in in education FIRST with almost 30 000 teams is built around LEGO robots and uses real-world problems on the field of play Kids participate at at different levels depending on their ages It’s a a a a a a a a “spectacular program ” said Higashi but also “expensive relative to to others ” ” The The robots he he he he he noted have a a a a a more “industrial size” to to them (They can weigh up to 120 pounds ) Then there’s VEX whose contests draw 11 000 student teams from middle school through college and and use robots that are smaller (up to 20-plus pounds) and and less expensive On the the the other hand he he he he noted the the the LEGO robot tends to be “simpler more accessible ” while it takes a a a a “lot of technical knowledge” to make VEX robots work While there are are plenty of teachers who aren’t interested in in the the competitions it’s an important distinction to to understand because they’ll have to to choose which direction they’re going in in order to buy the the the gear they’ll need and get the the the right professional development for the the platform they’ve chosen While “technology is technology” and the same concepts underlie any robotics course said Higashi there are “enough idiosyncrasies in fin each platform that you’ll want to finetune it ” ” It’s “logistically and conceptually impractical” in in class he pointed out to have pairs of people working side side by side side on different robots 22
| JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019