Posted by: thepinetree on 04/22/2015 11:31 AM
Updated by: thepinetree on 04/22/2015 11:33 AM
Expires: 01/01/2020 12:00 AM
:
Bret Harte High School Cybullfrogs Club Receives Grant from Calaveras Community Foundation
Angels Camp, CA...Cybullfrogs, a Bret Harte High School LegoRobotics club has received a $9993.00 grant from the Calaveras Community. The money will be used to buy hardware and software to allow more students to participate in the hands-on building of programmable robots. In March, 2014, a small group of Bret Harte students approached Timothy Randall, Math teacher, and Ken Baldwin, Drafting and Digital Photography teacher, with a desire to start a robotics club. The teachers volunteered as mentors and organizers and with the help of a grant from the Tyler Orsow Foundation and seed money from Bret Harte, the club was able to purchase four Lego Mindstorms kits....
Students build the robots to carry out controlled actions while discovering real-life applications of technology. They work collaboratively at their own pace, developing problem-solving skills. The program encourages students to look at careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, (STEM), which is a valued initiative of the Calaveras Community Foundation.
Cybullfrogs has hosted two exhibitions and invited students from other county schools. Students program their robots to perform such functions as getting through a maze, following a line, and pushing other robots off course. On May 2, the club will host an Artistic Exhibition where students can program their robot to perform any activity of their choosing. Randall and Baldwin are speaking to incoming freshmen about the club and looking into offering robotics as a course in the future. The teachers describe their club as “curious and precocious Bret Harte High students, especially geeks, techies and other outliers, led by two adult onset nerds.”
The grant money will also allow the students to purchase parts to expand into building Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV), robots which perform underwater. Real life ROVs are used with nuclear submarines, in marine technical fields, and exploration in the offshore oil and gas industries.
Baldwin’s classroom houses a 3-D printer, so students learn to operate and utilize the printer to first create their projects on paper. Step by step, they are challenged to generate and use progressively more complex software, while teaching new members.
Bret Harte staff, board, parents and especially the students are deeply grateful to the generosity of the community which allows the Calaveras Community Foundation to fund worthwhile educational projects such as Cybullfrogs.
|
