By Devin Partida
Maybe you have an amazing idea for a STEM extracurricular project, but you simply lack the budget needed to make it a reality. Here are the words you probably don’t want to hear: You have to write a grant proposal. Though it may seem daunting, as an educator, you already have the necessary skills to draft a compelling grant submission and secure the funds you need. Let’s get started.
By Carol Grace
Compared to other careers, underrepresentation is rampant in STEM-related roles. According to job statistics by Pew Research Center, Black and Hispanic workers remain underrepresented in various STEM occupations, only making up 8-9% of STEM jobs. This share is lower in specific job clusters, such as engineering and architecture, with only 5% of black workers making up the total workforce. While women comprise 50% of the STEM workforce, 74% are healthcare practitioners and technicians — making other fields vastly outnumbered by men. With robotics highly dependent on computers and engineering, it’s unsurprising that diversity in the industry is at an all-time low.
By Devin PartidaPhoto by Dan Nelson on Unsplash
Curricula must shift for educators to create a well-informed next generation of cybersecurity analysts. Though robotics is an umbrella containing many branches, K-12 teachers can use robotics to teach cybersecurity more effectively than other subjects.
By Ellie PoverlyImage Source: www.unsplash.com
Anyone in the education sector knows that new technologies are poised to revolutionize the traditional classroom.
In the past few years, educational institutions have adapted to a new normal brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents, students, teachers and administrators had to remain flexible, adjust to virtual learning environments and adopt new digital technologies to facilitate learning.
Although the industry is still reeling from the adverse effects of the pandemic, the global disruption sparked major growth in one relevant sector: education technology (ed tech).
A primary example of ed tech is artificial intelligence (AI), which has already proven itself as a highly useful, effective tool with various applications and benefits. How important is AI in supporting the rise of the ed tech market? Will more K-12 and secondary education institutions adopt AI-based solutions in the future?
The implementation of the lab will provide entrepreneurs with real world experience in robotics and artificial intelligence.
September 1st, 2022 – San Francisco, CA – The Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation (“Levan Center”), in partnership with RobotLAB, the leading educational robotics company, partnered to build an artificial intelligence and robotics lab.
What are people saying about CUBELETS, the new robotic teaching aid from start-up Modular Robotics (a spin-off from Carnegie Mellon University, with funding from the National Science Foundation)? Time Magazine called them “one of the most interesting and accessible robots on the market today... a great way to teach kids about how robots work without actually having to solder or know anything about programming.”
Online magazine MakerShed, the magazine of do-it-yourself (DIY) digital projects, says “...we love Cubelets! These magnetic robot building blocks snap together and don’t require any programming, making it easy for anyone to build their own robotic creation. What could be more fun?”
Mr Jaravata gets it! Engagement is the key to learning. Nothing engages kids like robots! And CUBELETS are engaging robots from which young kids can both enjoy and learn.
Fred Jaravata is a San Francisco Bay area educator who realizes that robots are the way to kids' minds.
According to his blog post ‘Our Students Playing With Cubelets,’ he recently decided to try CUBELETS after a period of working with Lego Mindstorm. He didn’t tell the kids much about the cubes he was giving them and kept directions to a minimum; he wanted to see what would happen naturally.
For those of you not familiar with CUBELETS, every cube has a different function. Some move the robot, some sense temperature or distance, some act like a flashlight. The cubes snap together magnetically and the trick is to snap them together in a fashion that forms an autonomous robot capable of movement in tune with its environment as indicated by its sensors. Kids have made everything from slithering snakes to writing robots with them.
Hey! Here is some good news: the Japanese government thinks it has to play catch-up to the United States in at least one area of manufacturing technology, 3D printers. After a lifetime of hearing about the supposed superiority of Japan in all things manufacturing--I’m driving a Subaru; how about you?--it’s great at last to find something about American manufacturing worth emulating.
Even more important, it’s great to realize that we Americans are doing something right in our schools--intending to furnish every single one of them with 3D printers. The determinative word in that last phrase is “intending;” we still have a long way to go before we can claim victory.
This wonderful new technology, as President Obama said in his 2013 State of the Union speech, “... has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. The next industrial revolution in manufacturing will happen in America.” Of course the Japanese would prefer that the revolution start there!
Math teachers, science teachers and engineering teachers, are you looking for a way to make your beloved disciplines more relevant to your students? Maybe even inspire a few to love them the way you do? Well, right now there is affordable new technology out there that can help you do just that! The Makerbot 3D printer and STEM BOT 3D CLASS from our own RobotsLAB.
StemBot 3D program that teaches students how to 3D print a robot, assemble it, work on the electronics, and finally program it.
Actually, 3D printers have been around since the 1980’s, but they were massive and super-expensive like the first-generation computers. Only in the last few years have they shrunk in size and dropped in price to where individual households and schools could afford them.