Teaching about robotics

Why teach young women about robotics? Forty girls in grades 4 through 8 in the Minneapolis Public Schools are building more than robots in an afterschool program called GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science).

For four months, two teams of 5th- and 6thgraders at Clara Barton Open School met weekly to learn these skills.

At first I heard, "M.J., help us!" After they realized they would be relying on each other, however, their comments changed to "Look, we did it!" Their first challenge as a team was to follow written instructions and build a Lego(TM) Technic rover. I then asked them to put it together again-without the directions. With time, each team gained confidence and success.

The tasks were varied and challenging. Team members sent letters to NASA, asking about recent and upcoming missions to Mars. Once the NASA materials began arriving, the students summarized the information and created questions and answers to quiz each other.

Using Lego Dacta software, which enables a computer to interact with the Lego elements, the girls programmed in Lego and, using math as building material for creating movement on the computer, they assembled fans. They could turn the fan on and off and even make the fan blades reverseThey then began to assemble the rovers and to program them to perform specified tasks. Their final task was to program the rovers to traverse a simulated Martian terrain, built by students at Olson Middle School and supervised by teacher and project coordinator Brad Blue.

The girls then took their project on the road. They attended an "Eye to the Future" conference at Augsburg and shared their Mars information and project at the Science Museum of Minnesota, as well as at the Mall of America.

Students of all ages learn best when they construct their own meaning and can add it to prior experiences and knowledge. Legos allow teachers to structure the learning, and permit students to enjoy the hands-on exploration, simulations, and inventions as they follow diagrams and build.

In addition to learning about Mars, the girls acquired presentation skills, designed team mission patches, wrote autobiographical profiles, and explained their project in public. Such experiences in the middle level years lay the groundwork for encouraging girls to take more science and mathematics courses in high school. May the "can-do" attitudes necessary for excelling throughout life continue!