STOMP at Tufts

Hey Everyone! It's been awhile since I have written. I got involved with Engineering Education here at Tufts University. I am in the Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program (STOMP) at Tufts--where my journey began! Right now I teach a fifth grade class every Friday in Medford, MA. We are using LEGO NXT bricks to build houses. The students are learning Properties and Materials. This Friday we will test temperature, reflectivity, and waterproofing materials to determine the best ones for our model houses. The classroom is 20 students, all are enthusiastic about our lessons. I have uploaded a photo of students who were inspired to go home and build their own model house on their own. Hope you enjoy! Keep engineering.

Success

This year has been such a success for me, Ashley Hall, and Ann Sheridan, Meaghan Bonds, Jessica Fisher, and Carly Hill! I nominated Ann Sheridan, rising 7th grader, to be on the Engineering Girls Website student panel! She WON! This happened a few months back, but I wanted to blog about it and connect you to her PQV article: Also, The Sheridan Corporation donated #3,000.00 to continue my Lego Robotics Class and the FIRST Lego League Team next year at Ashley Hall. The money is being split between funds for entering an Ashley Hall team in the FIRST Lego League and buying new Lego Mindstorm NXT kits for Ashley Hall Robotics classes! Thanks so much to all who have supported me and who came to my final presentation! Thats all for now--I am attending Tufts University in the fall of 2012. I would love to get back with the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach to participate in the STOMP (Student Teacher Outreach Mentorship Program). Danielle

April 6th - MUSC Field Trip

Hi all: meet at Ashley Hall on Smith St. at 2:45 on Good Friday. We will walk to MUSC Health and Science Center to tour the robotics labs!! Pick up will again be on Smith Street at 4:45 (ish) depending on how long it takes to walk back..roughly 5-10 mins.

Great job programming the navigation obstacle course on Friday! Here is the picutre of your program--sound files must be converted to a different format (*.rso) so we will not be importing our own music. But, it's there and you all know how to use the program now! Yay!

See you next Friday!! Please call me if you are running late or can't make the trip for some reason. Cell # 843-437-6910

Class Tomorrow (Friday March 29th)

Hi all,

Tomorrow we will navigate a simple obstacle course...the hard part is the programming, but I think you all will be able to figure it out with a little guidance.

Also wanted to let you guys know that I judged the FIRST Lego League "Snack Attack" for elementary school kids at Porter Gaud the other week! It was fun and I enjoyed seeing all the snack/food assembly lines and factories the kids came up with. I was also proud to see we had our very own lower school Ashley Hall girls participating. No big deal, everyone got a prize. But, I wanted my robotics girls to be aware that there are volunteer opportunities in the lower school for you experienced girls!! I'm sure Ms. McCarty would love a few older middle school engineers in the classroom helping out :)

Next Class-Week we get back from Spring Break (March 23rd) Friday

Congratulations to our Lego class...we finally figured out case structures and while loops. These programs will definitely be presented on April 30th during my final presentation. All parents, teachers, and students are welcome to come.

I will pull Ann, Meaghan, Carly, and Jessica from class that day to come speak at the end of my presentation and show their amazing work! Great job. I am so happy we have some impressive programs to show to our audience.

April 6th is our day to tour MUSC Heath Center, Robotics in occupational therapy! Next class after break, we will work on an obstacle course and some math concepts. Then we will head to MUSC on April 6th. Following that I will continue classes up until my presentation.

Happy Spring Break!!

No School Next Friday! Feb. 17th

We have made the news!

The girls were surprised to find their pictures in the local family section of the Post and Courier this past Monday. The article however, had a negative spin on the new Lego line: Lego Friends, designed for girls.

Carly, Ann, Meaghan, and Jessica think they have been "mis-quoted". The artcle reported that they disliked the new Lego Friends line, when in fact, they thought it was a creative idea to get more girls involved in engineering with Legos. However, the girls did say they personally prefered to play with traditional Legos.

Today in class we discussed the article and looked at our pictures online at the Post and Courier website. Then we finished programing with Case Structures. This program allows the robot to make a decision. Ex) "If I do not hit an object in 4 seconds, then I will play a song and stop moving. But if I do hit something in 4 seconds, I will..."

See the program below to see what the girls designed and built today!!

Also, our field trip to MUSC Health Science Center to see robotics in rehabiltation is scheduled for Friday April 6th (3:30 to 4:30)! Looking forward to seeing everyone there for that!

Reminder!

No class this Friday (Feb. 3). We will resume next Friday! See you then.

Brick By Brick-- Lego Build Day

On Saturday morning, Jan. 28th, Mrs. Kainz, Carly, Ann, Jessica, Meghan, and I woke up early to go build Lego robots at Brick By Brick, a new Lego Learning Center in Mt. Pleasant.

We used the same Lego Mindstorm NXT kits to build a "golf-putter" motor attached to the NXT. The girls built a simple golf course with some Lego blocks and used the NXT program already programed on the box to play around. After about 30 minutes of some fun, the owner Matt Randall, showed the girls how to build their own program on the NXT software.

They saw the differences in the NXT software's blocking, duration, and power functions compared to the LabView 2010 we use in class.

At the end of the morning, Mr. Randall gave the girls free "Brick By Brick" pencils! I bought a t-shirt and Lego watch, which I built myself! I hope we go back again in the spring, or that the girls return with their friends and families.

Accomplished: LabView program and Math Worksheet 1

On Friday we completed our program! The robot moves forward 1 meter (which is 3.7 sec. (~4 seconds)). Back the same distance. Stops successfully and then sings a song!

After we did a math worksheet which shows the girls how to calculate average duration. Ex) If it takes about 4 seconds to travel 1 meter, then how many seconds would it take to travel 15 meters?

Above is a picture of the program we built:
~ see everyone on Friday!

Brick By Brick

Reminder Post:

Our field trip has been scheduled for Jan. 28th (Saturday) from 9: 30 to 11:30. Please plan on dropping the girls off at 9:15.

It costs $12 per person! Mrs. Vicki Kainz, lower school technology teacher and my school mentor, will be joining us for some fun!

Get excited!! I will video tape everyone building and programming. Directions to Brick By Brick can be found through my emails to parents (see website for Brick By Brick). Thanks so much! I am really excited about this unique opportunity!

LabView- 1st Class

The first program we learned how to build was a basic design challenge I created to teach the fundamentals of LabView. The goal: make the robot go forward for 1 meter. Stop, then move back 1 meter. Stop. Then play a song.

The girls were successful in measuring duration--the time (seconds) it takes for the robot to move 1 meter. The only glitch in the program they made was that their song, called the "Green Song" plays WHILE the robot is moving backwards. This means that the robot will continue moving in reverse until the song ends, which takes longer than the roughly 4 seconds it takes to travel 1 meter.

This coming Friday we will fix this glitch, so that the robot moves in reverse for exactly 1 meter. Stops, then plays the "Green Song."

I was impressed with how fast the girls picked up on programming. After we finish the challenge, we will be doing Worksheet 1: Obstacle Navigation. This comes from "Educate NXT" by Chris Bracken with contributions from Rob Torok and Damien Kee. My school purchased this book after I used it as a reference when I was at Tufts University Center for Engineering Education and Outreach. This math exercise relates distance, rate, and time to the robot challenge. We can then build upon our basic program to introduce more complicated LabView skills.

NEXT WEEK: CANDY!

Happy New Year-- 2012 LEGO classes!

Hi everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed the holiday break! I have been planning out the final stages of my senior project, robotics for children-- I can't believe it!

Our next class is Monday Jan. 9th from 3:30 to 4:30. I have a neat idea to take the girls on field trip to Brick by Brick, a new LEGO learning store in the Belle Hall shopping center! It was opened by an engineer and his wife in Charleston to teach kids STEM education through LEGO bricks! This is my objective too, so I thought we could pick a Saturday to visit the store! Check out the website: www.buildbrickbybrick.com for info.

The girls will get the article that was in the Post and Courier about the new store and engineering for kids at our next class!


Additionally, I found this video: How does a Wii Remote Work?? Check out this link: