mentor
Steve12
Posts: 8
I wonder if anyone here has had experience being Mentor of a Robotics
club?
I just served one semester as robotics mentor at a school for gifted
children, and to be honest, the experience was less than satisfying.
During the semester we built a Boe-bot and learned to use some of the
sensors so we stayed busy, but gradually over the semester the number
of kids in the club dropped from a low turnout of six, to just one student.
I was only with them for less than an hour a week so I was kind of
limited in my ability to get them motivated, but these are kids who
were supposed to be already highly motivated. At the start I found
them to be only mildly interested in robotics.
My job with this club was just to answer questions and kind of coach them
along while they built the Boe-bot and I'm a bit amazed that only one
student stayed through the completion of the project.
The school has quite a few other clubs such as math and drama and
even one for computer programming. The robotics club was considered the
success of all of them, so that gives an idea of how bad attendance was
at the other clubs.
I'm kind of depressed at the lack of interest these kids have in a subject
which I find to be endlessly fascinating. These kids are extremely
intelligent so the problem wasn't lack of ability.
I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this, or can tell me
what robotics clubs are like at other schools?
Joe.
club?
I just served one semester as robotics mentor at a school for gifted
children, and to be honest, the experience was less than satisfying.
During the semester we built a Boe-bot and learned to use some of the
sensors so we stayed busy, but gradually over the semester the number
of kids in the club dropped from a low turnout of six, to just one student.
I was only with them for less than an hour a week so I was kind of
limited in my ability to get them motivated, but these are kids who
were supposed to be already highly motivated. At the start I found
them to be only mildly interested in robotics.
My job with this club was just to answer questions and kind of coach them
along while they built the Boe-bot and I'm a bit amazed that only one
student stayed through the completion of the project.
The school has quite a few other clubs such as math and drama and
even one for computer programming. The robotics club was considered the
success of all of them, so that gives an idea of how bad attendance was
at the other clubs.
I'm kind of depressed at the lack of interest these kids have in a subject
which I find to be endlessly fascinating. These kids are extremely
intelligent so the problem wasn't lack of ability.
I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this, or can tell me
what robotics clubs are like at other schools?
Joe.
Comments
It would be my guess that they weren't sufficiently challanged by the mere assembly of a BOE-Bot. Had you been able to get to a point where they started to add various sensors, and/or used the BOE-Bot to solve some complicated mazes, you might well have had a different outcome.
It's tough to keep ordinary kids interested in the subject matter. Gifted kids have already devoured the book before they get to class, so it's up to the "teacher" to provide the additional stimulus.
In this case that was not your job, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. You did your job, and I'm sure you did it well.
Regards,
Bruce Bates
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
<!--StartFragment -->
For a robot to have relevance, it needs to solve a problem. Unfortunately, you didn't say what grade(s) your club served. The problem can be contrived -- as in the line-following above -- but the person(s) building the robot need to see how their efforts go toward solving that problem.
Just "building the robot" is hard enough, at the beginning, to be absorbing. But once you've overcome those hurdles, THEN comes the moment of "OK! I've built this cool thing! Now, what did I want to use it for?"
And these small robots are PERFECT for implementing line-following, or sumo-bot type competitions. But sadly it's up to you to provide that 'larger purpose', the kids aren't going to have that level of insight.
On the other hand, kids LOVE to have robots compete against each other, autonomously or under remote-control. So you do have lots of possibilities open to you.
Don't be discouraged, text time it is offered, the kids you worked with will tell their friends, you will get a more focoused group and things will hopefully work out well.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Magic Smoke Theory of Electronics –
Inside every electronic part there is magic smoke.
The magic smoke is what makes everything work.
If you release the magic smoke, the part stops working!
these kids are between 10 and 16 years old. They divide their course work
between the university and our school.
I understand about the need to get their attention. The problem here isn't
one of them mastering the work and then getting bored. Believe me, I would
have been delighted to move faster and do some competitions. The problem
was more one of getting them to apply themselves to the basics so they
could go on and do things like line-following and mazes.
competitions are good as challenges, but they are also part of the problem
because the kids come to the club (5 guys and one girl) expecting to do
something like Battlebots on the first day, and then lose interest when the
reality doesn't match what they've seen on television. Interestingly, all the boys
dropped out; the girl stayed on to complete the Boe-Bot book and is now
working through the Smart Sensors book.
Joe
I have zero robotics/electronics/programming experience but 2 months ago decided to start trying to learn some of this stuff. I've been spending on average 2-4 hours per day in my free time just trying to become somewhat competent. Now, I'm no gifted child (
I don't know your budget, but I would think each student should have a BoeBot to take home each week. Give them progressively more difficult weekly or bi-weekly contests. Start with easy ones in the book like "make your Boe Bot avoid obstacles with whiskers" and "make your Boe Bot follow a light". By the end do something harder like "make your Boe Bot park itself in a parking spot of X-dimensions", etc.
Tell them that at near the end of the term you will build one bigger, cooler robot as a team. Like a little bot that can shoot pneumatic Nerf missiles, or something action-packed like that. Better yet, build a bot like that and show it to them on the first day. All the boy students will be excited to build their own robot that shoots stuff, but they have to learn the basics first! Show them that "Battle Bots" are possible, but you have to put a lot of work in first.
Anyway, bottom line is I think you need to have way more than 1 hour per week. Maybe meet on Saturdays? I realize the kids have other subjects in school that take up their time, but it's hard to learn much in 1 hour per week!
How was the Robotics Club described to prospective members?
If this were a "Car Club", would members be differentially attracted to it if the activities were "driver ed", "You-drive track racing", "automotive (engine, drive train, electrical system, mechanical) repair", "automotive engineering", "upholstery design", "body painting trickery",·"body shop techniques",·etc?· Would it be possible to operate such a Car Club successfully if it held out the promise of all those activities during one hour a week? I'd think twice about such a diverse (nebulous?) offering.
"Robotics" is equally diverse, complex, and interesting in the varied ways. So, it seems very important to clearly set expectations about what _your_ Robotics Club will do in any particular series of meetings (of a school semester/term).
In "Robotics", you come to the meetings expecting robots (Where's the radio controller? What programming language do I use to tell the robot what to do?). In "Electronics", you might come to the meetings expecting electronics (What's that?!).
PAR
·
Let's face it. If it were a "Car Club" many of the kids would be looking forward to a "Demolition Derby" !
Bruce
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
<!--StartFragment -->
said or what expectations were raised. On my first day, I demonstrated a Boe-bot
with IR sensors, lights and buzzer so they knew what to expect from that point on.
I agree (and said so from the start) that one-hour per week was not enough time. But,
since it's a club meeting and not a class, one-hour is what we were given. I thought
at first that I would just do something on general robotics and maybe
try to have a field trip, but assembling and programming the Boe-bot seemed like a
better alternative. The kids were quite enthusiastic about this at first.
Someone suggested to me that because some of these kids were home-schooled they
lost interest when they didn't get the amount of attention they are used to receiving.
I don't see this as a factor, but obviously something caused them to lose interest.
I was also told, by a very experienced teacher that it's about right to get one student
out of eight to develop a real interest and follow through with a project to the end.
Perhaps this is true, this was my first time being a Club Mentor so I may have expected
too much. I like learning for its own sake, and have always been a little surprised when
others don't share my enthusiasm for learning new things. Maybe, as someone here
suggested, I should have made the club more goal oriented.
I've also thought much about whether the problem was me, but I don't really believe
this to be the case. I got along well enough with all the kids. A couple of them seemed to
really like me, but it's a little hard to tell with teenagers. I think I could have done better,
and some of my presentations were better than others. But I don't think I was the problem.
I started each meeting with a short presentation, and then let them go about building,
or writing their programs, while I roamed around offering assistance where it was needed.
thanks again for your thoughts.
Joe