Robotics class builds skills at Oak Ridge

by Darren Diekmann

news@thenewsleaders.com

Recently an after-school community-education class at Oak Ridge Elementary School has been running an introductory robotics class, using a toolless system, where students can snap plastic parts together to make a mobile robot.

The class is the result of efforts by local parents and volunteers, intended to develop STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and cooperative skills. It’s also to prepare third- and fourth-graders for more advanced robotics systems at the middle- and high-school level, and have fun doing it.

The increasingly popular platform is called VEX IQ. It includes the material and instructions for the robots and an accompanying curriculum offered free online. Sartell High School teaches two levels of classes, and the middle school has a robotics team that uses the more complex VEX Robotics system.

“This course is what we call a build and drive,” said Paul Moe, one of the instructors and the instructional technology specialist at Oak Ridge. “When the students come in the very first day, they work on designing very simple machines, some ramps, pendulums and other items. Then they break down everything, have all the pieces laid out and begin building the robot, following the directions similar to a Lego set.”

The class meets after school on Fridays for six weeks. All the groups work on the same project. This winter session it’s a robot with wheels and a lifting arm. Last Friday was the fifth week, and most of the students had their robots assembled. It was a more lively class than earlier as the kids were learning how to maneuver and operate the arm with the remote control.

The course was initiated by Oak Ridge parent, I-Jung Lee. A couple of years ago, Lee attended the robotics day at the Works Museum in Bloomington, an interactive museum for kids. Her own grade-school children so enjoyed the robotics that Lee sought a local robotics club for them but found none.

A chance meeting with Andrew Zieglmeier from St. Cloud Technical College led her to Steve Brewer, a parent in charge of the new VEX IQ team from Prince of Peace Lutheran School. He has since been helpful with advice and support, Lee said.

With support from other Oak Ridge parents and middle-school teachers familiar with VEX IQ, the PTA was willing to fund the program with $4,000.

The program is all volunteer, mostly of local parents. Except for a small stipend, the two principle instructors (Andy Schlesinger, the director of Mathnasium of St. Cloud; and Moe, instructional technology specialist at Oak Ridge) are volunteers also.

Lee said they are having difficulty getting enough instructors. Initially, more than 70 students signed up last March. They first reduced the number through a lottery to 48. But with 12 kits purchased, instructors found four students per kit still were too many for the amount of help they had. So they reduced it again to 24.

“That is the thing we want people to understand is that we need more instructors,” Lee said.

The increasing popularity of VEX IQ can be seen in nearby area clubs such as 4-H and the Boy Scouts and schools like Prince of Peace, which have started competitive teams. They work hard in hopes of being invited to competitions like the Minnesota VEX IQ Tournament at St. Cloud River’s Edge Convention Center this January. For the students and volunteers at the Oak Ridge program, this may be an exciting possibility for the future.