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Janette, Bowser, and Ariana
| Solving the World’s Problems - One Robot at a Time The Harmony Science Academy - El Paso robotics team has qualified to represent the United States in the European Open Robotics Competition to be held in Denmark from May 1-3, 2009. HSA-El Paso, named a TEA exemplary school for the past two years, is one of only six schools representing the USA in this 8,000 team international event. To better understand how these middle schoolers are preparing for this competition, the Texas High School Project visited their school. |
High Achieving School with a focus on STEM Harmony Science is of 38 T-STEM (Texas Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) Academies located throughout the state. The success of the students at HSA is based on a program which emphasizes academic excellence while motivating students. Harmony attributes its strong outcomes to three core principles: a challenging math and science curriculum supported by theory; a focus on assessment; and a culture of constructive competition, discipline and parental engagement. In addition, Harmony utilizes technology across all of these dimensions to reinforce its school model and curricula. The goal of developing a robotics program is to give students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in problem solving and computer programming, while constructing and programming robots.
According to Coach Arif Kacanzi, robotics is a hands-on activity. “They are touching; They are feeling. It’s not just about a robot. It’s project-based learning… so they are getting their ideas and building. It is amazing.” |
Andrew and Gerardo
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| FIRST Lego League
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a global program created to get kids excited about science and technology. Geared for ages 9-14, FLL utilizes theme-based challenges to engage kids in research, problem solving, and engineering. The cornerstones of the program are its core values, which emphasize contributions of others, friendly sportsmanship, learning, and community involvement. This year’s challenge is called Climate Connection. Working in teams, guided by a coach, and carefully advised by mentors, the Harmony students have worked very diligently over the past 10 weeks to 1) analyze, research, and invent a solution for the given challenge; 2) Build an autonomous robot that will, in 2 minutes and 30 seconds, complete pre-designed missions; and 3) Create a clever presentation about their solution to perform in front of a panel of judges. Students are treated like professionals and must serve in several capacities, such as programmer, designer, and technician. As professionals seeking research data, HSA’s team traveled to University of Texas at El Paso for expertise. |
“We involve as many students in robotics competition as we can," said Guvanch Atamyradov, Assistant Principal. "It teaches them different concepts and different problems. They learn how to communicate in a group and how to work in a group, public speaking, and presentation skills. On the other side, it’s calculations in math and science.” Regardless of the competition, the students win… Win or lose, the team claims that their biggest reward is teamwork. The resulting empowerment of this program is evidenced by the students’ ongoing attempts to perfect the performance of their robot, affectionally known as Bowser. To improve Bowser’s chance for the championship, the team outlined their strategy: - More practice (Gerardo)
- Expanding research to include more specific details (Ariana)
- Use of all team members instead of just two (Ariana)
- Design of a claw for the robot, so that he can pick up objects faster (Janette)
- Changing the wheel’s design to address speed issues (Ariana)
I predict the students will tinker with the robot up until the deadline for shipping it for the competition, a testament to the fun and dedication to the STEM coursework. |
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