October 25

This week has been particularly busy! I am meeting with Mrs. Kainz again this Friday after our annual Halloween carnival at school. We will continue building with the LEGOs, taking notes about what to point out to the girls when they start to build. I am also gathering my materials (baggies, tape, string, etc) for the Parachute Design that we will do the first week of class. I am meeting with the girls at some point this week or next to decide the best time for our classes. Right now the idea is to meet once a week, after school for an hour either on a Monday or Wednesday. I will keep you all posted!

Revised Research Paper for MUSC

Hi Everyone!

I wanted to post on my new blog my revised version of the research paper I wrote for Dr. Michelle Woodbury (OT)at MUSC. The paper is an exploration of four different robotic devices used in Stroke and spinal cord rehabilitation. Enjoy!

LEGO Robotics Program Week 10

Another successful week in my senior project! Yesterday I stayed after school to start building the LEGO Mindstorm NXT Robot with Mrs. Kainz, lower school STEM teacher.

I also put together folders for the first day of class. I gave all four girls two articles. One is from USA Today, "Space Station's Humanoid Robot Wakes Up" (August 8, 2011). I thought this would get the girls excited about our motto, "LEGO to the Future!" I also included a newspaper article from the Post and Courier, "Melding Mind and Machine" (Monday, Oct. 10, 2001). This one is an inspirational story about a quadriplegic research patient who successfully moves a robotic arm through chips implanted in his brain. This story parallels the research I do on rehab robotics at the Medical University of SC (MUSC). I hope discussing this article will stimulate interest and discussion about the medical applications of engineering robotics. Ultimately this is where the girls are going to journey in the spring--over to the Research Center at MUSC to explore the rehabiliation robots.

See you next week!

First Reading Reflection Paper (Oct. 10, 2011)

Attached is my completed lesson plan for day 1 of my classroom activities with the Ashley Hall girls! I also attached my research paper for the month which documents my progress thus far!! Be sure to click on the URL links on my Lesson Plan to see the Youtube videos and Articles the girls will be exploring in November.

Tomorrow I am purchasing pocket folders for articles and handouts that I will give to the girls this year. I can't wait to find out when we can all meet on a regular basis!

Enjoy;)

Oct. 4, 2011

Last Friday I met with Mrs. Kainz in her office. She is keeping my LEGOs in her locked closet there. I showed her my first lesson plan, and she gave me some tips for a starting activity! We are going to meet most Fridays to build with the LEGOs and explore the LabView programming software together. Hopefully I will sit in on some of her classes/ after school workshops and club meetings too. I invited her to come to my first after school meeting with the girls in November. Tomorrow, (Weds. Oct 5th) I am going over to MUSC to meet with Jenna Nott, who knows how to work the LabView. She is going to tutor me in computer programming-- hopefully I will have my first code written my the end of the week!!

Sept. 24, 2011

 This week I met with Mrs. Kainz who teaches 5th and 6th grade STEM. She is going to meet with me every Friday after school to build robots and help me with my activities. I feel like with her advice I will be much more successful with my class this year!! I am currently studying effective teaching strategies and planning out my first lesson! The classes will hopefully begin in November!!         

Sept. 18, 2011

This week was very exciting!! I was invited by my 2nd mentor, Dr. Woodbury, to MUSC to meet a visiting Robotics Engineer from the University of Padua, Italy. His name is Mr. Rosati, and I was able to sit in on a conference with him and other department heads at the Health Research building. Afterwards, they had me for lunch, where I talked to Mr. Rosati one on one about my project and neurorehabilitation robotics.

Dr. Woodbury returned my research paper to me with her comments. I am currently editing it, and will be expounding upon my paper as the year progresses to turn it into my final thesis.          

Week 1 of Blogging!! Sept. 7, 2011

My LEGOs arrived this week from Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach! Hooray! I am currently studying LabView programming for the LEGO activities on my labtop, and designing my first lesson plan. Mrs. Neel and Mrs. Kainz are helping me put together a pool of available students who would be willing to work with me this year. Once I get that group together we will set our first meeting date. I have 2 computers in the Ashley Hall lab already designated for my project, onto which I need to download the LabView software. Thats all for now! It has been a productive week. My goal for the end of next weekend is to have my lesson plan drafted.          

Welcome from Danielle Feerst

The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my senior project at Ashley Hall School for Girls (Charleston, South Carolina) entitled, "LEGO Engineering Education with Sixth Graders: Exploring Basic Concepts and Use of Robotics in Medical Rehabilitation."