This project is part of the Black History Month celebration because it supports a Black teacher or a school where the majority of the students are Black.
My Students
"Live your dreams and your life with practical feet." Technology inspired students need solid and grounded experience to become technology leaders. These skills come from building systems that work in the real world. To make future choices, these leaders will need real experience to draw from.
Students come to my school for a variety of reasons.
Many students simply want to be part of a small school, while others find my school to be a refuge and a new beginning. My students come from many different avenues of life. What I like best about my school is that it is small. I also like that my school is a crossroad of cultures, values and beliefs.
Now, the school offers a debate class. This debate class takes place in 8 rooms at the same time with one teacher. The fact that I have watched this debate class over the years run this way shows that my school trusts the students that attend it. You ask what my students are like and who they are, my students are a trusted diverse group of human beings.
The school also offers the classical courses. The curriculum that is focused on classic literature, solid mathematics and a deep understanding of history. Then there is that robotics class, where small plastic machines skitter across the floor and out into the halls.
My Project
For the last few years students in the robotics program have been building ROVs from scratch. The students use PVC pipe, zipties, furnace cable, car batteries and recycled parts here and there. Our lab has recycled pvc pipe robots again and again and the students that started with me a couple of years ago have shown and demonstrated that the program is now ready for the next step.
The next step for my robotics program is embrace the opportunities offered by projects like OpenRov. Putting the OpenRov platform into the programs lineup gives my students a new real world goal to work towards and to work with.
With OpenRov we can now move from physical switches that control our robots to software and servos. We move from the "toy" aspect of plastic pipe robots to the mature looking cameras, laser scalers and body. OpenRov is just that, an open platform that gives my students a way to undertake real ocean science missions as opposed to our pool missions we have done in the past.
Students can grow by inspired words.
Students grow and are changed by the tools that we give them. By funding this project you are enabling me to put real tools in the hands of students who are ready to work with motor controllers, lasers, and beagle boards.
In my program OpenRov will be the first major robot for many of my students. My students deserve technology experiences that will support their future as technology leaders.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
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 Mr. Alexis Beard Stem-Robotics ROV and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
