By Beth Christian Broschart
The Parsons Advocate
DAVIS – All Cadets at the Rubenstein Center were engaged and enjoying their learning last week as NASA presented a program helping them learn to build, program and use robots. Todd Ensign, from NASA said they have brought the program to 21 different sites in the state.
“We are providing both an experience for the Cadets – a four-day experience where they get to build, program and drive and compete a robot,” Ensign said. “We are simultaneously training the educators to do our job here because we can’t come back.”
Ensign said they are working to engage the Cadets in the area of computer programming, science and engineering.
“They are getting scientific concepts and math and in we are focusing on the transition component when students go back to their home schools,” Ensign said. “We are going to target some of those students to be the catalysts for new robotic teams. The name of the program is STARS – successful transitions assistance robotics students. When they go back to their home school as long as the student remains on the team, we will continue to work with the team and support them, provide training for the teachers and provide robots for the school.”
Ensign said that is the incentive for the school to work with the students. “Our hope is that the program will reduce recidivism.”
“Today is the first of four days of a hands-on experience,” Ensign said. “The students will build, program and learn to drive and compete with robots. We are condensing the program into four days. We are happy for the chance to do this. We have seen such tremendous results and with the program, disciplinary actions have seemed to disappear. Students have endless attention span and I think that is because they know what they are doing.”
Ensign said they have talked about careers with robots and said the project is part of a larger initiative.
J.R. Helmick, principal at the Rubenstein Center, said next year, there will be all new students.
“They are leaving us kits and we have our teachers in the process because next year, we will be teaching the students the first two days and NASA will come in for the last two days training.
“We will weave this into our curriculum next year,” Helmick said.
Vaia Medor, instructor at the Rubenstein Center, said the NASA team is excellent.
“They have brought in all of the kits the students are working with,” Medor said. “The students have been excellent and they are having a blast. They are working on the kits to assemble them and now they are doing basic programming. They are doing trial and error and they are making progress and doing wonderful.”
Medor said the NASA staff members are excellent communicators with the students and said the students are all doing excellent.
“They are really engaged,” she said.
