Parallax at local STEAM Exposition Tonight
Ken Gracey
Posts: 7,392
Hey there,
STEAM = Science Technology Engineering Art and Math.
I live in a small community with two high schools (North Tahoe and Truckee). A couple of years back I was doing a presentation for a local tech group comprised of ex-Bay Area programmers who now prefer to hide in the mountains. Hidden in the audience was the school district's new superintendent, a super savvy tech-minded PhD. About halfway through my presentation as I discussed how I was using robots in the schools, he told the group that he'd used the Boe-Bot in his Masters and PhD research with students in Arcata. Imagine that for validation!
This was the beginning of a small landslide. Now, we've just about got both schools completely under our Parallax wing
. One is fully immersed and the second is just sorting out their STEM program.
Not only is it very rewarding, the students are truly a lot of fun. They're really interested in the topic, and with California's Common Core standards the teachers are also receptive to learn "by doing". I'm sticking with these schools really closely to get some first-hand experience with our educational program. Many companies proclaim huge success in education from a distance, but I guarantee they don't know what it means till they work in the classroom. In the classroom you get to see every imperfection and inspiration of your product. And you'll only know how it feels to win their attention if you've got a good product.
Tonight the rotary assembled a STEAM exposition and bussed in all the students. They're trying like crazy to expose these students to engineering, and making pretty good progress. We probably had about 300 students come through the stand. My job was to tell them about careers in robotics, what they'd need to know, how they can get started, and what kinds of things they can do once they have their new skills.
Some pictures below tell the story from tonight.
By the way, I need your help for my "Teach a Teacher" program. So far, only a few takers. Come on, help us out and pass it on!
Ken Gracey
Nathan finishes the setup.
Arlo Robot. Andy has nearly ported the abdrive.c programs to run on Arlo. Can you imagine the ease of ActivityBot programming on an Arlo? I can!
Fleet of customized ActivityBots ready for deployment.
Big-screen TV runs the Learn.parallax.com curriculum.
S2 Robots for the little ones. Can't loose with this robot.
Carson fixes an ActivityBot after a failed table edge detection experience.
A bunch of kids answer my question "which side of the quadcopter gets more power for it to fly forward?"
Both of these bigger students have been through my class. As for the little kid in the middle, he's next
STEAM = Science Technology Engineering Art and Math.
I live in a small community with two high schools (North Tahoe and Truckee). A couple of years back I was doing a presentation for a local tech group comprised of ex-Bay Area programmers who now prefer to hide in the mountains. Hidden in the audience was the school district's new superintendent, a super savvy tech-minded PhD. About halfway through my presentation as I discussed how I was using robots in the schools, he told the group that he'd used the Boe-Bot in his Masters and PhD research with students in Arcata. Imagine that for validation!
This was the beginning of a small landslide. Now, we've just about got both schools completely under our Parallax wing
. One is fully immersed and the second is just sorting out their STEM program.Not only is it very rewarding, the students are truly a lot of fun. They're really interested in the topic, and with California's Common Core standards the teachers are also receptive to learn "by doing". I'm sticking with these schools really closely to get some first-hand experience with our educational program. Many companies proclaim huge success in education from a distance, but I guarantee they don't know what it means till they work in the classroom. In the classroom you get to see every imperfection and inspiration of your product. And you'll only know how it feels to win their attention if you've got a good product.
Tonight the rotary assembled a STEAM exposition and bussed in all the students. They're trying like crazy to expose these students to engineering, and making pretty good progress. We probably had about 300 students come through the stand. My job was to tell them about careers in robotics, what they'd need to know, how they can get started, and what kinds of things they can do once they have their new skills.
Some pictures below tell the story from tonight.
By the way, I need your help for my "Teach a Teacher" program. So far, only a few takers. Come on, help us out and pass it on!
Ken Gracey
Nathan finishes the setup.
Arlo Robot. Andy has nearly ported the abdrive.c programs to run on Arlo. Can you imagine the ease of ActivityBot programming on an Arlo? I can!
Fleet of customized ActivityBots ready for deployment.
Big-screen TV runs the Learn.parallax.com curriculum.
S2 Robots for the little ones. Can't loose with this robot.
Carson fixes an ActivityBot after a failed table edge detection experience.
A bunch of kids answer my question "which side of the quadcopter gets more power for it to fly forward?"
Both of these bigger students have been through my class. As for the little kid in the middle, he's next
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Comments
I looked into this for the new workshop that I'm teaching, but the Parallax website says that it's not active:
http://www.parallax.com/news/jul11-2013/introduce-educator-parallax
It is nice to see you taking such an active role in shaping those young minds.
From one of the photos, it appears as though there were some other companies participating in this STEAM program. What other companies are involved?
Bruce
I love the fact that Art now broadens the focus of STEM to produce STEAM! It's been shown in multiple studies that a facility with the arts helps to engender aptitude in math and sceince. If only more school districts would broaden their focus to accept this, rather than dropping arts programs to concentrate more narrowly on "core curriculum" mandates.
-Phil
P.S. Ken, without going into particulars, I see you're supporting "no-shave November!"
Cody, I asked our marketing staff about the program today and they told me it was shut down due to abuse. Apparently too many people were requesting hardware for their own use and not for teachers. I'm not sure if this was because we were using a form which invited abuse, or if people had ill intent. I really prefer to not let abusers manage our agenda, and run a good program that simply factors them in without spoiling it for those who would benefit.
Maybe I'll restart the program with a personal approach "call me at 916 625-3010 and tell me who you are - I'll get you the hardware to take to the teacher personally". Perhaps this would cut down on abusers?
You see, I've got a mission in mind and I'm having a heck of a time achieving it. Basically, I believe that many of our customers appreciate what Parallax offers and would be very willing to introduce an educator to our products. And with a little support from us they'd have the rewarding benefit of being a productive volunteer and Parallax would have another customer. What's the right model to make my program go? It's not just a corporate "pet project" nonsense - I believe in what we do and spend so much time with students who realize they have interests they didn't know about. The result is that students choose careers, define their interests, etc.
If you've got an idea about how I could make my program work I'm very open! As for you, since I know you, just drop me a message and tell me what you need and who you'll share it with. That's all it takes.
Ken Gracey
Below is a listing of what was represented at this particular event. There was one physician walking around with a brain in his hand - I thought that was really fascinating. Where I live many of the "professional" jobs are in architecture, civil engineering, environmental engineering, and medical. There were also guys with really cool "kinetic cycling projects" that they peddle across Humboldt Bay, and another guy that had some Google Earth tools that let him go into any restaurant and even see the menu.
Perhaps something similar is offered where you live in Illinois(?)?
Ken Gracey
Architecture
Art
Biomechanical Movement Analysis
Careers in Aviation
Careers in Railroading
Civil / Structural Engineering
Earth Sciences and Engineering - Where the High Paying Jobs Are
Engineering Division at the Town of Truckee
Environmental Sciences, Sustainability, Outdoor Adventure and Leadership
Exploration and Environmental Research around the world: Examples: Antarctica, Tahoe, Truckee
Finance/Math
General Surgery
Graphic Design, Screen Printing and Embroidery
Information Technology
Killing Cancer with Radiation
Marketing & Communications
Mechanical Engineering
Mechatronics - Great careers that let you use your hands and your brain
Meteorology
Natural Sciences
Nursing: A World of Opportunities
Planning Division at the Town of Truckee
Project Management
Robotics
Society of Women Engineers, Sierra Nevada Section
Stranger Bikes
Veterinary Medicine
What We Need to Know about our BRAINS
XplorIt Virtual Exploration Technology
Close, but I actually live in Indiana.
Anyhow, there is plenty of offerings and support at the college level around here, but you never hear about anything like that for high school students, and personally I think it is a tragedy. However maybe they do have stuff like that and I never heard about it.