With two rooms full of students, Hillsdale Middle School STEM teacher Jenny Stump decided to host a "Day of Coding" for her students to explore robotics and coding.
"I do a lot of robotics, that’s kind of how I do my STEM here in this building through the use of robotics," Stump said. "It’s engaging and it causes kids to think critically."
Jackie Davis — director of IT and STEM programs at DriveMind Group out of Canton — brought several different robots for the students to experiment with writing code. Stump already owns several robots of her own which she bought through different grants she received from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation and the Hillsdale Educational Endowment Fund.
"With this you can start them out ... you just let them play," Davis said. "Then you can pull it back and say ‘Now that we’re learning this, what’s the algorithm that made this work?’ "
Stump brought the sixth grade students into groups to visit several different stations where they could practice directing cubelets and hexapods.
Cubelets are small cube-shaped robots that use tactile coding that respond to each other once stacked or laid against each other, while hexapods are a robotic vehicle with six legs that are controlled by code designed by the students.
"I think it’s a great opportunity for them to get them excited about what they’ll be doing with me next year," Stump said.
The different robots Davis brought also varied in skill level, with the Cubelets geared toward younger grades and hexapods and Edison robots intended for more advanced students.
Stump’s elective coding course is "not a traditional classroom" and educates students in the different ways in which robotics are used everyday like search and rescue, drone technology and auto engineering.
"That’s what I love about it. It kind of addresses every age level, kids who are not quite as engaged, still having a good time, still having fun with it," Stump said. "I love robotics for that reason, it allows people to think creatively, critically, work collaboratively in groups."
The elective course at the middle school serves as an introductory course to robotics and engineering and gets students thinking about career options, though Stump said she would like to start in even earlier grade levels.
Hillsdale High School currently has two pre-engineering courses, according to Stump, and she believed middle school was a good time to start getting students involved in robotics to capture their interest and become aware of their options at both the high school and the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center.
"My goal is to get kids, particularly the young ladies, excited about engineering," Stump said. "I just really want to take them to the next level and keep them engaged."
— Jessica Speweike can be reached at 419-281-0581, ext. 237, and firstname.lastname@example.org.