Robotics on Water
George J. Hádemenos, Jonathan Russell, J. DAVID BIRCH, Karen Wosczyna-Birch · The Science Teacher · 2010
Research has demonstrated that project-based learning (PBL) is a highly successful instructional tool, and is particularly useful when teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM; Barron et al. 1998; Marx et al. 1997; Gordon 1998; Blumenfeld et al. 1991). Challenge for the 21st Century, a weeklong teacher workshop sponsored by the National Science Foundation, uses PBL to help students and teachers build STEM skills. The workshop, hosted by the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, features the Coast Guard Academy Robotics on Water (CGAROW) project. The goal of CGAROW is to stimulate teamwork, foster creativity, encourage strategic planning, and develop practical scientific and engineering aptitude while building robotic crafts. In addition to participating in PBL activities such as CGAROW, teachers also learn technical writing tips and teamwork strategies that can be used to make PBL activities more effective for students. This article describes the teacher workshop, the CGAROW project, and its application to the classroom. About CGAROW In 2004, the Coast Guard Academy developed CGAROW to encourage high school juniors to pursue STEM careers and learn about Coast Guard missions. High school students typically complete this activity over the course of four days (13 hours). Teachers participating in the Engineering Challenge for the 21st Century workshop, however, complete an abbreviated version of CGAROW that can be fit into a single school day. Each team of four teachers is given competition rules (Figure 1, p. 50), guidelines and hints, a kit of materials, and seven hours to complete the CGAROW project. The goal is to design and build a radio-controlled floating robotic craft that will complete Coast Guard missions--such as containing oil spills, conducting rescue operations at sea, or stopping the transport of illegal drugs--within a 3 x 3 m (10 x 10 ft.) water-filled arena. Teams earn points for their crafts' successful completion of various tasks during a four-minute competition period. (A description of the point assignment per task is given in Figure 2.) Prior to design, teams decide which tasks to accomplish, and then design and build their robotic crafts with those tasks in mind. The orientation of each task within the arena is shown in the photo below, and example crafts created during the 2009 teacher workshop are shown on pages 49 and 51. Results Although the kit of materials and the instructions given to each team in the teacher workshop are the same, the final products are remarkably different. One such product, the Shiver Me Timbers watercraft (p. 49), used a bulldozer function to collect, transport, and deploy Ping-Pong balls, which represent an oil spill. Using the materials in the kit, the team constructed an L-shaped carriage from the metal plates provided and covered it with plastic mesh. This prevented the collected balls from moving along the surface of the boat or falling through the extension gap between the carriage and the mounting plates. Servo motors--electrical devices with an output shaft used for precise rotational movements--controlled the carriage, and two additional stepper motors propelled the robotic vessel through the water. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CGAROW in the classroom Workshop participants complete postcompetition assessments on the construction of the robot (in the form of a technical report) and on team dynamics (in the form of a survey). (Editor's note: For information on the technical writing and teambuilding aspects of the workshop, see Figure 3, p. 52.) When the CGAROW project is implemented in the classroom, a variety of assessment tools can be used to measure its effectiveness. For example, students can record a detailed log or journal and document all investigative efforts in the design, construction, testing, and operation of the vessel. …