Last year, as a grant recipient, I was able to purchase five beginner level robotic kits for my classroom. Students worked together in groups of 3-5; each group had to develop a prospectus that described a problem their robot would solve. The groups were then required to give a presentation/demonstration describing each phase of their project. The students loved showing off their robots and were eager to take on more advanced challenges. [more]

This year, thanks to the Coos Bay Schools Community Foundation, we are able to continue building on the skills the students developed last year through the purchase of five intermediate level kits. The students will brainstorm how their robots could help in the wake of natural disasters, like cleaning up tsunami debris.

Many students said that the best part of the project was that robotics requires a lot of teamwork. No one person does all the work to make a robot operate, it takes everyone’s skills and talents for the project to be a success.