SPARKING Interest:Engineering and Robotics in the Classroom

Joshua NeudeledJewcon

April30, 2012

The Big Questions

• Why is it valuable to teach Engineering and Robotics

• What hurdles are there to implement these programs

• What skills will students learn?• How do you assess student work?

A little about myself…

• Gann Academy Science Chair• Grades 9th-12th

• Chemistry, Physics, Engineering

• Boston University College of Engineering• Udesign RoboAlley• Grades 6th-9th

Common Experiences• Existing Programs at our schools

– Use KINEX to teach simple machines

– Building Rube Goldberg Machines- Simple Machines

– Build a roller coaster (cardboard, duct tape, plastic tubing

– Whizball and Lego Digital Designer– Lego Mindstorm(programmig

RoboLab, Scratch, wedo, NXC, RobotC)

– Earthquake Building Resistance Design

• Benefits of Rob./Eng. Program– Application of Science– Problem Solving– Creativity– Logical Thinking– Engineering Design

Process– Collaborative Working– Developing Physical Skills– Working with tools

Why teach Engineering?

• Why is this a subject area worth including?• What does it take to be successful?• What skills are we trying to teach students

How do we implement?

How do we implement?• What are the challenges to implement?

• Costs involved?– Use community resources to help support programs

• Types of programs/activities• How do you staff?• What are your department’s goals

How Do We Assess

• What are the challenges of grading projects?• How do you grade creativity?• What types of rubrics are needed?• What are you assessing?

Some Resources

• Supply Resources:• McMaster-Carr: www.mcmaster.com• Jameco: www.jameco.com• SparkFun: www.sparkfun.com• Lego Mindstorms: http://mindstorms.lego.com

• Programmatic Resources:• USFIRST: www.usfirst.org• VEX Robotics: www.vexrobotics.com• Invent America: www.inventamerica.org• Rocketry: www.nar.org/competition/index.html• NASA Sites:

– http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/rocketry/multimedia/index.html– www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/aerores.htm

Things to Think About• The work is in the preparation…• Are you willing to give up control…• The teachable moments are in the mistakes…• The value is in the process…• KISS