“A spark of initiative from Camden Haven High School. A ‘coming together collaboration’ of teachers, students and family. Put it all together and you get a Robot Kit”
Originally written by: MIM TORZILLO
Originally posted on https://teachersforpeace.com.au/ethical-bots/
STEM education, at its best, could offer schools and teachers the opportunity to involve their students in education that is based on the best of design thinking, problem solving and project based learning in response to real world issues and challenges. A group of teachers in regional NSW, with backgrounds in Technical Education and Mathematics, were aware that educational inequity was replicated in STEM, in particular in the popular competitions and challenges for STEM students.
In response they designed a program that would bring the most exciting and up to date STEM LEARNING and challenges to all students even in the less resourced public school system. In response to the clearly elitist STEM competitions that existed, they would source/design and create a program that would be affordable and relatable to all young people. Thus ethical robots came to be.
The teachers developed school based elective programs that would bring their students into the previously unattainable realms of robotic competitions, against (mostly male) teams from prestigious private schools. And win.
More crucially in respect of the future of the program, the genesis of STEM in that region is relevant. In the Hunter, and in major schools in particular, vocational and tertiary pathways programs for STEM are dominated and managed by the weapons industry.
What is also relevant is the commitment of the team and in particular one of the key founding members that they would not advocate or privilege future pathways into defence and thus would go against the very dominant paradigm in this part of the country.
Check out the link to the website for the products and software to run the program.
The Arbot v6.4 produced by Hayne Robotics
