Students Acquire 21st Century Skills Through Robotics
Help me give my students two mobile carts to store robotics parts, a hand truck and plastic totes to transport robots and supplies to tournaments, and engineering notebooks for each team to record their building process.
My school is entering its 4th season of VEX IQ robotics. Last year was my first year coaching the team, and we had approximately 20 students participate in the club. We attended 4 tournaments, and one team of students qualified and competed at our state tournament. We have goals of expanding our program and taking it to the next level, but doing so will require the necessary resources.
Robotics is the vehicle we use to teach students 21st-century skills that will prepare them for our technology-driven world.
When my students are given the opportunity to create and explore, the results are truly amazing. Despite being elementary students, my robotics participants are always open to a challenge and excel when given a critical thinking task. As students work in their teams for a common goal, a love and motivation for learning become apparent. The fundamental goal of the robotics program is for students to learn with their peers through trial and error.
My Project
We are fortunate to have the basic resources to operate our robotics program. These resources include two playing fields and robot kits with the necessary pieces to build functioning robots. However, we do not have an efficient way of organizing and storing those pieces. They are currently stored in totes and frequently get misplaced. Also, students often struggle to find the necessary parts as they are building. The addition of mobile carts with tool bins will allow students to easily organize and locate parts when needed.
As our robotics program grows, these items will help increase our organization and efficiency at practices and tournaments.
The students spend a great deal of time building their robots. To ensure safety when traveling to and from tournaments, we are in need of plastic totes that will carry and protect the robots.
Also, when traveling for tournaments, we must transport many supplies in addition to our robots. The use of a hand truck will allow me to carry all of our team materials into the tournament venue with ease.
Each year, teams must create and submit engineering notebooks. Students write in their notebooks at each practice. They record problems, solutions, designs, strategies, and many other notes. The notebooks are evaluated at tournaments as judges select award winners. The addition of these resources will increase student learning and strengthen our robotics program.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Bergin and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
