PRO D: GearBots at Ecole Andre-Piolat

Professional Day - Option B - Introduction to NXT-G Programming language
GearBots will be providing a 5 hour introductory session for the grade 6 students at Ecole Andre-Piolat in North Vancouver, BC, Canada.  Students will be introduced to the basic motor blocks (measured distance, degree turns), wait for blocks (calculating thresholds), and completing a introductory challenge to test their skills.

GearBots and Surrey School District teaming up

GearBots Educational Resources will be hosting two introduction to robotics training session for kids in the Surrey School district over the March 2012 spring break. 

OVERVIEW OF STICKS AND STARS

Sticks and Stars aims to prevent gang infiltration and recruitment in schools and to provide positive role models and outlets for targeted Grade 5  boys.  We will be piloting this program at two schools in 2010-2012 – WE Kinvig at   13266 70B Avenue and Cougar Creek at 12236 70A Avenue.  We hope after this first year that the program will expand to most inner city schools across Surrey. 

The program will operate on 20 days between Jan-Dec 2011, 3 hours each, throughout the school year and will aim to eventually involve 20 boys at each site but will likely start with a smaller number as the program becomes established.  One hour will be focused on hockey skills instruction during which some science principles about force and motion will be introduced – a Hockey BC instructor will lead these sessions.  The second hour will focus on space science instruction – these sessions will be led by HR McMillan Space Centre, GearBots Educational Resources and High Touch, High Tech Science.  One half hour will involve presentations and activities with community leaders and role models including sports stars, media personalities, business leaders and the like.  The final half hour will be used for snack and breaks.  The program will work at every turn to show the boys various interpretations of a successful and productive future, different activities and goals that the boys can achieve and have fun with and a wide variety of positive role models.  The program will build self-esteem and confidence and prepare the boys to make progressively tougher personal decisions, to expand independence and to prepare for the often stressful and complicated transition to secondary school for at risk and vulnerable students.  Most importantly it will provide boys with the strength and belief in themselves to avoid gang participation or illegal activity early before engagement in these behaviors begins.

The staff to student ratios will be kept very low with the Surrey School District and Options Community Services working together to provide 3 general staff per site.  Science, hockey and mentorship partners will be an additional adult presence and connection point.  The general site staff will act as program coordinators, undertake registration and parent liaison, manage group and individual behavior and ensure rules and safety processes are followed.  Partner groups will focus solely on bringing their expertise and instruction to the boys and general program staff will support partner staff during their lessons.

GearBots Engineering Challlenge Sponsors

GearBots Educational Resources would like to thank the following sponsors:
BCIT School of Energy, SD#34 Career Programs, Yale Secondary School, MacStation - Abbotsford

Fraser Middle School Pilot Project - Intro to the NXT Platform and STEM

One of the goals for the GearBots Robotics Engineering Program was run a pilot project to see the feasibility of running an abbreviated introduction to STEM robotics at the middle school level.  We ran a 5 lesson unit for a class of 30 students using 10 NXT kits and 10 PC computers.  We covered the following topics: Intro to robotics engineering, introduction to the NXT platform, introduction to the NXT-G programming language, downloading programs, running programs on the brick, move blocks, measured distance / degree turns, dizzy drills challenge, and the treasure hunt challenge.

See the following links for a review of how things went. 

1. Media release - Created by Dave Stephen from SD#34 and posted
on the Abbotsford Today website
2. Flickr link - pictures from the pilot project

GearBots Engineering Challenge

Save the date - BC Skills Canada - Provincial Competition in Abbotsford at the TradeX on April 18th 2012.  Official invitations go out by email in middle of November.  Email me if you want to learn more about the one day engineering challenge.  Visit the following link to see pictures from last year's pilot project.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/59926592@N03/sets/72157626609127334/