Battle of the Bots…Day 5 of Sayre camp

Today was the last day of the Sayre camp.  Knowing from earlier in the week the management skills that were needed to keep the kiddos on task us college students decided that we needed to be really organized and on top of things for today to be successful.  We searched on the internet for a double elimination tournament bracket for the Battle of the Bots.  Afterwards we instructed each team to come up with a name and we drew names to see who competed with who first.  Once the bracket was set we made sure all three rings were ready.  There were two small rings for pairs of robots to compete in and one large ring for the final battle.  The students worked on making sure their bot was ready for the battle while we were doing this.  It was fun to watch the battles.  I think the kiddos enjoyed sharing with their parents who had come to watch.  In the end all the bots were placed in the large ring for a final battle.  Last one in and moving was the winner. 

Helping with this camp was a good experience.  However, I think I would change some things if it were my own camp.  There needs to be one on-level task like the instructor had for all to complete.  Then there needs to be a series of 2-3 beyond level tasks for the students who excel at programming their robot.  Students who chose not to participate in the tasks for the week would not be able to participate in the robot wars.  If the camp (or after school program) was longer than one week I may have the students change groups half way through.  This way they could have experience working with other kiddos and mix personalities again.

Sayre Robot Camp

This week I have been working with Thomas Hurst at Sayre to lead a robotics camp.  The camp was comprised of 3rd-7th graders.  The students were very active and many had medical issues that required them to need food at a moments notice or a fidget to control their hyperness.  Management was definitely an issue this week.  After day 1 of the Sayre camp I suggested that all of the college students get together and create challenges to be completed after each daily task.  So many of the students were getting the tasks so quickly that they needed something else to do to keep them on track.  For instance after moving the bomb on day 2 out of the box we set it up so that the students had to carefully transport the bomb to another box (bomb proof building) that was diagonal to the original building where the bomb had been placed.  The students loved the challenge and it kept them engaged for the rest of that day at camp.  Each day the college students would work with me to increase the  difficulty in the challenges so that the kiddos stayed involved.  Doing this helped everyone work together and complete the tasks without venturing too far away.

Robot Class Day 5

Yippee!  The teachers came in this morning to find that their robot “Weed Bot” was working.  It would stay inside a black line.  Each time Weed Bot reached the line it would back up and turn around.  Today I watched them (and assisted) as thet added the counter to their program.  They started the count at 3 and each time Weed Bot’s touch sensor was pressed the counter would subtract one.  After they learned the program they were able to add sound to their robot and some other cool features.  Finally all of the groups entered the robot war.  I think this is when the teachers were able to see everything they learned this week come together.  They seem very excited to work with the kids in their camp next week.

Robot Class Day 4

Today was a frustrating day for many of the teachers at camp.  The computers were very slow.  Also the robotics program had difficulty working on most of the computers.  While waiting on the computers one group of teachers and I added some items such as the touch sensor and other hidden features to their robot so that they would be ready for the war an dance contest.  I think they had fun doing this, but would have rather been programming their robot so that it would work as should.  The professors son will be working some after class to try to get the computers and programs working.

Robot Class Day 3

Unfortunately I was unable to attend class 3 because of a doctors appointment.  However, I was able to find some websites for the group of students that would be presenting about Robots in Construction.  I was particularly excited to find a picture of the Roma 1 robot that inspects steel based structures.  Afterwards I spent some time looking for journal articles about robotics, but have yet to find anything that I think either of our groups can use. 

I will be glad to get back to class tomorrow and have more hands on experience with the students and the robots.

Robot Class Day 2

Today was the first day that I taught other teachers about robotics.  The other practicums and I had previously collaborated on teaching methods and materials.  I team taught with one practicum and was able to introduce the concept of programming the Lego Robots to the rest of the class. 

While the students worked on building their robots (They had not finished on class day 1) I found pictures of robots that were made to look like bugs.  I posted links on our class del.icio.us site.  Afterwards I looked for tracks on Trackstar.4teachers.org.  Tracks are organized groups of websites, webquests, etc. about a certain subject or content area.  I love trackstar, but you have to be careful when using it in your classroom.  Sometimes tracks, or parts of tracks, that were available the year before are no longer viewable.  😦

Once the students had build their robots, I assisted one group in programming their robot to work on 2 playing fields.  The students were able to ask me questions about their motors and power, wheel alignment, programming blocks, etc.  I am hoping that I can help more during the next few classes.