Science Olympiad and Robotics
The Body Electric
In 2007, I began collaborating with my science department as well as collaborating with two newly hired physics teachers for establishing Science Olympiad and robotics. I was fortunate in our efforts to recruit new physics instructors who were intrinsically interested in sponsoring after school activities for Science Olympiad and robotics. I was also fortunate to begin working with a new Assistant Tech Director we were able to hire, Bill Miceli, whom I would later have the pleasure of promoting as the school’s Tech Director. Throughout my efforts as assistant principal, and eventually principal, Bill was my right hand man during the development and establishment of the school’s STEAM, innovative, and interdisciplinary vision for learning for technology-related infrastructure supports.
Bill Miceli
While being in a position to offer Science Olympiad and robotics as clubs/activities was exciting (none of the pre-existing physics teachers had shown interest in supporting these curricular, or extracurricular, offerings) we were fortunate as administrative-teacher teams to work together towards creating actual Science Olympiad and robotics courses for students to earn course credit. We were able to write curriculum and budget to implement a junior-level Science Olympiad seminar course for students. Teacher, Scott Vessalo, excitedly led our efforts, and as a result, we began offering Science Olympiad as a co-curricular course offering for students beginning in 2011.
In 2014 our Science Olympiad teacher, Scott Vessalo, and his student, Robert Harris, were invited to the White House’s STEM Fair. Scott and Robert were able to attend the White House STEM fair along with Bill Nye the Science Guy, NASA’s Mohawk Guy, Kari Byron of Myth Busters fame and of course, President Barack Obama.
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My work included reviewing the costs, needs, and demand for implementing robotics as a course for students to earn physics credit. I also spent time with our team exploring curricular units and material needs and space within the building to house the establishment of a robotics lab. I collaborated extensively with our science department chair and the school’s most supportive alumni group, the Century Foundation, for projecting a three-year plan along with startup costs for creating a sustainable robotics program. I committed to submitting the course proposals, creating a course code, and developing an implementation plan.
Electric Ladyland
After two years of development, we were able to advertise robotics as a new course offering in January 2012 for the 2012-2013 school year. This was an exciting time, as the team was open to implementing creative approaches to teaching and learning as well as maintaining ongoing professional learning. Just one year earlier, the team had experimented with utilizing a Verizon VGo Robot for use with our growing STEAM offerings. We were looking to employ the VGo Robot for creative professional development via Skype, homebound students with serious illnesses to take part in classes, judging at our developing Alpha-STEM fair, and for visiting classrooms. We were excited because these foundational efforts paved the way for establishing a cutting edge program for students of all backgrounds to design and construct knowledge. Our students would also partner with outside organizations and battle in robotics competitions. We were able to capitalize on the hiring of a number of new staff to collaborate with veteran staff for reimagining our curricular delivery practices and for exciting the learning community about science and research.
Robotics was designed to expose students to the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of advanced, industrial grade robotic mechanisms. Robotics provided students with the opportunity to use professional computer programming environments, 3D design software and industrial grade hardware to design, program and build sophisticated robots. Students specialized in teams such as programming, drivetrain, pneumatics and electronics, and then, collectively, to create robots seen everywhere from science fiction to medicine, animatronics, and industry. The curriculum was fun, exciting, and challenging and we committed to enrolling a diverse student body.
Rather than focusing on a linear progression of information as in a traditional class, robotics was challenge-based with students being immersed in a variety of projects throughout the year. This included successfully programming digital and analog controller systems and I/0 units such the cRIO and RobotRIO using the Java programming language, utilizing both vector and matrix math to inform programming decisions and strategies, employ calculations/measurements to determine the appropriate size or strength of industrial grade components working together in a system, and efficiently completing tasks.
2000 Man
Affording students robotics for course credit and a Robotics Research Lab required space and funding, which I committed to working with stakeholders and budgeting with my limited, available funds as an assistant principal. As a Lane Tech alumnus, I was confident I would be able to work with alumni and external partners for the much needed funds. A challenge I encountered from the principal I served under at the time was I was told, “technology changes” and “technology is not a good return investment” and was not provided the necessary school funds. However, just a few months later in early spring 2012, I was offered the position of principal at Lane Tech, which allowed me to commit my first year as the school’s instructional leader to actively engage stakeholders for partnering to fund the construction of a Robotics Research Lab along with multiple pathways of participation in robotics for all students.
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Houses of the Holy
As principal, I communicated a requirement for all new course proposals that I developed and began employing a couple of years prior as an assistant principal. This framework served as a guiding principle for all future course proposals and curricular implementation. Our Guiding Principles stated my dedication to distributive leadership and that innovative course proposal approvals must provide for (1) inclusion of special needs students (for example, in the case of robotics, an eventual adaptive robotics course), (2) a “social change” mandate that course design, recruitment, and implementation ensures female and students of color equity and access, (3) innovative/creative courses must include a commitment to professional learning for supporting annual course cycle review, (4) a commitment for innovative learning space review (visiting other schools, organizations, professional associations, etc.), (5) consideration, whenever feasible/possible, for our middle school students to participate in innovative course offerings, and (6) active collaboration amongst interdisciplinary planning teams with the goal of creating true cross-curricular course offerings. Descriptions for how we would embrace and support our Guiding Principles was required for all course proposals.
We were eventually able to roll out robotics as multilevel course offerings for robotics I, robotics II, and adaptive robotics. We were also able to construct a fully functional Robotics Research Lab dedicated to supporting multiple sections of each robotics course.
Additionally, by 2014, our robotics students were actively competing in robotics battles and were able to qualify for and compete at the FIRST International Robotics Competition.
