3D Printing, Coding, and Robots, Oh My!

Oh my, indeed! I am completely blown away by how things have changed in my lifetime. What was once pure science fiction is now becoming science fact. The thought of robots conjures memories of the robot from Lost In Space calling out “Danger Will Robinson” and Rosie, The Jetsons’ household robot. Back then, it all seemed so unrealistic and unbelievably impossible. But, now the advancements in technology have turned the impossible into reality.

Actually, this has been a challenging week of study, trial and error. I was definitely pushed far out of my comfort zone and experienced many difficult issues along with a laptop totally infected with malware, spyware, etc. Thank goodness for Geek Squad! But, in the end, I certainly gained a better understanding and appreciation for all these technological advancements.

I am especially fond of the coding programs available. I am currently teaching in a summer STEM program and one of our stations is coding using the website code.org. So, I was glad that I had the chance to research this site prior to using it with my students. This site offers tutorials for each section and it walks you through with step by step increments. My group of students are gaining confidence each day. They spend a great deal of time problem solving and thinking critically. They are also collaborating at a level that I have rarely seen with students.

I was also very impressed with the Google site madewithcode. I love that this is geared more towards girls as the ratio of females to males in the field of engineering and computer science is so slim. This site has so many options for creating things from fashion design, to animation, to avatars, to music and beats, and more. The creative possibilities are endless. I plan to sign up for An Hour of Code and start a coding club at my school this year.

I just loved the robots that are being developed. I would love to have my own Musio to talk to and interact with. He is just too adorable. His creation for interacting with students trying to learn a new language is such a wonderful idea. As someone who has tried for years to learn to speak Spanish, I know firsthand how difficult it is to try out your newly learned words and phrases with others. Musio reacts to what it hears and formulates conversation giving the person that much needed feedback without fear of judgement. The MEDi robots are also a wonderful invention. These robots provide much needed support and comfort to kids receiving scary medical procedures. Using robotics in the classroom is certainly increasing in popularity. With the focus on STEM related teaching, the study of robotics fits in perfectly.

My least favorite was the 3D design. I really struggled greatly with creating my project. I am not sure if that was the Tinkercad program itself or user-error. I felt completely out of my comfort zone on this. I can definitely see the benefits of 3D design and printing for classroom use. It would be so powerful for students to research, design, and then print artifacts of things that they would never have the opportunity to see in real life.