Teaching Technology
My experience teaching technology to students began at my local elementary school. I made presentations to three different classes and assessed the students’ interest in participating in a formal session. The response was overwhelming. Based on a brief survey, I developed a customized curriculum teaching Scratch, Robotics, and an introduction to Java. The introductory Level I course was a great success, and I was asked to develop a more advanced Level II curriculum. In the second course, I focused on Java, and developing critical thinking skills. The demand from students and parents for this type of course exceeded the school Principal and teachers' expectations. The video below was taken during the Level I course, and the picture during the Level II course, respectively.
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Poland 2016: Schools in Tłuszcz and Kobyłka
June 29th, 2016 marked the end of my four-day trip to Poland where I taught my English & Programming course. The course was conducted in English, but all the correspondence with schools was in Polish, and I had to communicate through a translator.
The trip was a great success. We received a very warm welcome from the schools’ principals, teachers and students, and we are grateful for their support. The students who took part in my course were smart and anxious to learn new things, and just like the students I see in the US: in awe when they can program a robot and see it go. My course was very well received. Polish students could practice both, their English and programming at the same time.
The first day of class consisted of a presentation to a large audience that included an overview of the importance of learning technology, critical thinking, and interesting technologies on the market. The second day included Java programming, NXT Robotics, and Scratch. On the second day the seating was limited to 20 students, due to the hands-on nature of the activities, and it was up to the school to nominate the participants. The interest from students exceeded the number of spaces available, and the schools had to use they own criteria to select the participants. At one of the schools, several students managed to sneak in to participate in the class. The last class ended at 4:00 PM. The bell rang, but the students and I ignored it and stayed for about a half hour longer. At both schools we made many new friends, and we intend to stay in touch.
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Clarksburg 2017
On March 7th, March 9th and March 23st, Joseph and I held our course at Clarksburg Elementary School. The course we taught here was part of our K2K division. Along with teaching Robotics, Scratch, and Java programming, we also emphasize on Cybersecurity and Cryptography. We started the first session with the general presentation, but then quickly moved on to smaller groups. One group used the virtual reality headsets, and the three other teams circled our motion-sensor enabled robots. The room was very chaotic, but we managed to control the 60+ kids with the help of the principal, the media specialist, and fifth-grade teachers.
The number of kids who signed up was more than anticipated, so we decided to split the second session of the course into two classes so we could spend more one-on-one time with each child for the hands-on activities. The second day we started with a brief Q&A session about any questions they may have had from the first session or general technology. Then we began the kids with Scratch with our sample program. Once everyone was settled, Joseph and I both began offering pairs of students private time with the robot. The students were able to interactively use each programming block and see their code run in real time. After we had gone through all the students, we introduced the Java curriculum. Towards the end of the class, we held another Q&A session for Java specific questions, course-related issues, or general technology inquiries.
Overall, the course was a huge success! I got to see many talented kids who were really engaged and enthusiastic about robotics and programming!
The number of kids who signed up was more than anticipated, so we decided to split the second session of the course into two classes so we could spend more one-on-one time with each child for the hands-on activities. The second day we started with a brief Q&A session about any questions they may have had from the first session or general technology. Then we began the kids with Scratch with our sample program. Once everyone was settled, Joseph and I both began offering pairs of students private time with the robot. The students were able to interactively use each programming block and see their code run in real time. After we had gone through all the students, we introduced the Java curriculum. Towards the end of the class, we held another Q&A session for Java specific questions, course-related issues, or general technology inquiries.
Overall, the course was a huge success! I got to see many talented kids who were really engaged and enthusiastic about robotics and programming!
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