Robot code
Elementary school students learn computer science and engineering.
The Centennial Building at State Fair Park was a din of young voices chatting and laughing as they maneuvered small, four-wheeled robots around obstacle courses filled with soda cans, during the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics Junior Botball Challenge.
About 800 students from elementary schools throughout Oklahoma gathered Nov. 3 to put to use the programming and robotic skills they had learned in the classroom through a curriculum developed by KIPR.
“These kids have been working pretty hard the last two weeks in their classrooms learning all the computational thinking, math, all the things that go into this,” said Steve Goodgame, executive director for the Norman-based KIPR. “We’re really unique in that we integrate computer science with engineering design. There’s no remote control here. These kids have to develop software so the autonomous robots can perform.”
‘Technology has improved their thinking’
Emory Anderson, 9, of Washington Grade Center in Ada, sits in front
mat with differently colored instructional markings. She is fixed on her computer.
“I’ve been working on Challenge 13 for a long time. You have to get four cans into any garage. But two cans fall over. So, we’re trying again,” she said.
Meanwhile, father Boadie Anderson looks on.
“I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “She’s always been a great out-ofthe-box thinker and loves this type of challenge.”
At the end of the room, a group of boys in matching green T-shirts is huddled over a different course.
“We’re trying to do ‘Clean the Mat’ (challenge). It’s going well so far, but it’s not going as planned,” said Jadin Thompson, 11, of Soldier Creek Elementary, Midwest City. “Our goal is to get all four cans into one color, but so far … when we try to do the second can, it just falls.”
Jadin said he wants to go into engineering as an adult, but “if it doesn’t
go as planned, I want to do architecture.”
“It’s very interesting. We didn’t have this when I was growing up, so it’s good to see the kids engaged,” said Jadin’s dad, Mario Thompson.
Tech through teaching
The KISS Institute for Practical Robotics was founded to improve the public’s understanding of technology primarily through working with teachers and students.
“We’re a nonprofit with a focus on improving the public’s understanding of technology. We do this through the empowerment of teachers,” he said. “So, we take a three-pronged approach at this. One is professional development for educators. Two is providing robotic equipment they can use. And three is STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) curricula,” Goodgame said.
KIPR was founded in 1994 by a NASA scientist who did much of the pioneering work on the Mars rovers.
KIPR began the Junior Botball Challenge five years ago. This year, it is in 29 states and 1,000 schools,
including 15,000 students, Goodgame said.
The Botball Challenge for middle school and high school, which is a competition as opposed to a learning exercise, is incorporated into curricula in almost 40 states, five international regions and includes 30,000 students a year.
“The cool thing about this is because we’re engaging the classroom teachers first, we get all their kids, and we get the diversity in the classroom and we get the gender balance,” Goodgame said. “It’s not only for those who can join the Robot Club. This is for all kids.
“Our goal is for every school in the state of Oklahoma to have the opportunity to be able to use this in the classroom as an instruction tool. We provide the curriculum. We provide the professional development. We’re completely aligned to the Oklahoma Computer Science Standards, which were just passed this year. We think this is a great way to teach computer science.”
For more information on KIPR or the Botball Challenge, go to www. kipr.org.