We've definitely turned an important corner with this one. Smart partnership to produce a much needed resource!
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
How do young students program robots?
This item (below), taken from a message in my in-box this morning from, SPHERO EDU (student robotics organization)... It gives a fun, clear view of how students can program robots. Here we see the use of the programming 'language' SCRATCH, which takes a graphic approach, with kids moving things around their screens as they would move building blocks around on a table top. There are numerous other such 'graphically oriented languages'. This video, though, I think is a very good illustration of a very good approach to teaching kids how to do something important in a relatively easy and fun way!
A similar video below about the use of SCRATCH to program LEGO Robots
Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!
Scratch: The what and why
Scratch is the most popular block programming language in the world, and
we integrated their open source library into Sphero Edu so it can be a
better experience for more learners. For users familiar with our
existing blocks canvas, don’t worry, the layout
is similar and organized the same way, and we think you’re going to love
the improvements.
A similar video below about the use of SCRATCH to program LEGO Robots
Click on book cover for information
Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!
Thursday, June 14, 2018
American Schools MUST Prepare for the "Jobs Apocalypse" Automation Will Bring
(from the article, below;):
"Part of the problem is that policymakers are not moving quickly enough to update the education system and provide workers with the skills that will be needed when these bottom-tier jobs are replaced by automation..."
That's the UNDERSTATEMENT of the millennium !!!! The Education Sector is somewhat oblivious to this issue AND even that small portion of visionary educators who are aware and willing to act, are clueless about what best to do. We CAN'T address this by simply teaching kids to code... within a decade computers will be doing coding for us. We need some deeper thinking and we need it now!
Still, fully pulling Robotics into schools and making it part of their core body of practice is the best way to start. Robots have to be embraced as part of Education and NOT as an enemy to it! Student Robotics represents important learning opportunity!
Mark
Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!
"Part of the problem is that policymakers are not moving quickly enough to update the education system and provide workers with the skills that will be needed when these bottom-tier jobs are replaced by automation..."
That's the UNDERSTATEMENT of the millennium !!!! The Education Sector is somewhat oblivious to this issue AND even that small portion of visionary educators who are aware and willing to act, are clueless about what best to do. We CAN'T address this by simply teaching kids to code... within a decade computers will be doing coding for us. We need some deeper thinking and we need it now!
Still, fully pulling Robotics into schools and making it part of their core body of practice is the best way to start. Robots have to be embraced as part of Education and NOT as an enemy to it! Student Robotics represents important learning opportunity!
Mark
Article, below, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-policymakers-unprepared-for-automation-jobs-apocalypse/
"America is unprepared for the "jobs
apocalypse" automation will bring
In coming years, U.S. workers
-- especially low skilled, low wage workers -- are set to
face a major economic disruption as automation and the robotic revolution are
expected to replace millions of jobs once held by humans.
|
|
But policymakers and businesses are
ill-prepared to help workers navigate the transition and adapt the skills
needed to survive the "economic tsunami," Axios Editor Steve LeVine reports.
"The biggest takeaway is that
the future is now," LeVine told CBSN in an interview on Friday.
"We're not prepared at
all," he said, for the "jobs apocalypse" resulting from
automation.
Part of the problem is that
policymakers are not moving quickly enough to update the education system and
provide workers with the skills that will be needed when these bottom-tier jobs
are replaced by automation.
"You see scores of companies
complaining they can't find enough skilled labor...they are not prepared to
train new workers. And as a country we have not even started talking about,
'How do we retrain our workforce?'" LeVine said.
At least 10 million U.S. jobs are at
high risk of losing out to automation in the next decade as
companies replace them with machines, a recent analysis from research firm CB Insights found.
Some of the top jobs at risk include
"fast casual cooks" -- think burger makers and coffee servers. One
burger chain in California is already making use of a robot, called
"Flippy," to cook burgers. Movers, warehouse workers and retail workers including cashiers are also threatened,
according to the report. As autonomous cars move from myth to reality, taxi
drivers, too, could become a thing of the past.
-- CBS News' Jillian Harding
contributed to this report."
Click on book cover for information
Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
2TrainRobotics, Morris High School’s Student Robotics Team, Rules!
Article as it appeared in This is the Bronx magazine, this morning…
http://www.thisisthebronx.info/weekday-magazine-2trainrobotics-morris-high-schools-student-robotics-team-rules/
http://www.thisisthebronx.info/weekday-magazine-2trainrobotics-morris-high-schools-student-robotics-team-rules/
Members of 2Train at NYC FIRST Robotics Competition at NYC Regional (photo Gary Israel) WEEKDAY MAGAZINE – 2TrainRobotics, Morris High School’s Student Robotics Team, Rules!
By
Mark Gura
Kids growing up in the South Bronx
often come to think of STEM-based careers as belonging to a world out of reach.
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, subjects to which
students at schools like Morris High School can have a hard time relating.
Still, beginning in 1999 and currently going stronger than ever, Morris has had
a student robotics team (NYC’s first), that offers students an extraordinary
STEM learning opportunity. The team, 2TrainRobotics, has been a force to
contend with; bursting with adolescent energy, determination, and unquenchable
thirst to learn and compete.
For a student robotics team to have
emerged in a hard scrabble, inner city neighborhood, and from a school that
some considered at one time to be the Bronx’s “school of last resort” is truly
a miraculous thing. And 2Train is a winning team; not only in competitions, but
earning the unflagging admiration of its community, The Bronx.
2Train students have graduated from
Morris at a rate of 100%. They’ve gone on to prestigious universities and a
number are now employed in the engineering fields.
The team influences a good number of
Morris High School’s 1,600 student population who follow its activities with
pride and keen interest.
FIRST Robotics Competition
The team competes in the annual
FIRST Robotics competition. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science
and Technology), is the international organization that has helped shape
Student Robotics, a 21st century hybrid of a STEM Learning, passion inducing
activity, and sport of the mind for young people.
Its website states that “Under strict
rules, limited resources, and an intense six-week time limit, teams of students
are challenged to raise funds, design a team “brand,” hone teamwork skills, and
build and program industrial-size robots to play a difficult field game against
like-minded competitors. Every participant is eligible to apply for millions of
dollars in college scholarships.”
The team has traveled to Florida;
Texas; Georgia; Virginia; Canada, New Jersey; Missouri; and Rochester NY to
compete and has participated in many community events, becoming a neighborhood
institution. Numerous community leaders, including the Bronx Borough President,
Bronx Congressman, and local Assemblymen have acknowledged the team for its
contributions.
Robots AND People!
One of the team’s fortunate
strengths has been the volunteer efforts of qualified and highly dedicated
adults; some are Morris High School staff, for others their only connection to
the school has been their work with the team.
Gary Israel, former Morris teacher,
has been the Team Coordinator since its beginning. Bob Stark, manager of the
Columbia University lab where the team meets and works, has been the team’s
main mechanical engineering mentor for 18 years. Paul Lucian, an engineer with
the Port Authority of NY & NJ has been with the team for 14 years. He is
the coach out on the field during competitions. Further there is an ongoing
group of Columbia students who give their time to mentor Morris students.
Another great piece of good fortune
for the team has been its ongoing relationship with Columbia University. Morris
High simply didn’t have a sufficiently equipped available place for the team to
construct a robot. The willingness of Columbia to make their lab available was
a godsend. Importantly, Columbia students mentor the Morris kids who benefit
greatly by experiencing a university campus.
The team meets at the lab 5-7 times
a week during the robotics season in which it plans, builds, programs and
competes in public events with its robot. During the rest of the year the team prepares
and develops its members ‘skills and character.
Support
The team has received financial support
from the Bloomberg Foundation, S&P Global, Columbia University, and The
Port Authority of NY & NJ, as well as The NY Yankees, enabling it to travel
around the country to compete.
Paying it Forward
One exceptional example of how
involvement in 2Train enriches students’ lives is Reuben Bridges. Not only did
his participation positively impact his success as a student, but after
graduating, Reuben became a robotics teacher at a Bronx YMCA. He has remained
active with 2Train, and became a team mentor himself.
2TrainRobotics plans to continue to
compete around the country as ambassadors of the Bronx. But it’s also
interested in expanding its reach and further developing STEM learning
opportunities everywhere.
For the past few years 2Train has
reached out to schools that don’t have robotics programs of their own,
including some of their students. Further, 2Train members mentor elementary and
middle school teams throughout New York City.
####
Mark Gura is the former Director of
Instructional Technology of the NYC Department of Education and currently is an
adjunct professor at New York Institute of Technology and Touro College,
teaching graduate Education students who focus on Instructional Technology. He
blogs @ http://classroomrobotics.blogspot.com/ and https://markgura.blogspot.com/
Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!
Click on book cover for information
Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Revolutionising the Way Kids Learn: Robotics, Learning by Doing
Click on book cover for information
Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!
Monday, April 16, 2018
Reading, wRiting, and... Robots for Effective K-12 STEM Learning
Twenty-six middle school students from the Alvord Unified School District gathered at Riverside’s Arizona Middle School on Wednesday afternoon, April 11, to showcase their robot creations.
The robotics demonstration was staged for National Robotics Week and drew students from all four Alvord middle schools, district spokeswoman Cynthia Shipley said. Using the concept of artificial intelligence, all students customized their robots, Shipley said.
The event aimed to raise awareness about the importance of an education in science, technology, engineering and math, often called STEM classes. Alvord serves students in the western Riverside area and part of northeastern Corona.
Read the full article at its source: https://www.pe.com/2018/04/12/riverside-middle-school-students-design-robots-for-national-robotics-week-showcase/
Click on book cover for information
Getting Started with LEGO Robotics. Anyone who works with kids can do LEGO Robotics, a rich and highly motivating platform for important STEM Learning! (surprisingly affordable, too) This books explains it all!
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