Winter/Spring 2009
Twice a week, MESA students at Orland and Williams high schools near Chico gain useful physics, programming and math skills while playing with high-tech Legos.
A series of high school robotics classes that use Lego robot kits are part of a new collaboration between MESA and CSU Chico. The partnership began with a conversation between MESA pre-college director Teresita Curiel and Computer Science chair Abdel-Moaty Fayek.
"Give me a couple of hours and let me see what I can do," Fayek said when Curiel asked for a relationship between MESA high schools and the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Construction Management.
The next thing Curiel knew, Fayek, and Interim Dean Mike Ward had arranged for computer science professor Renee Renner to lead robotics classes at the high schools. The classes integrate the curriculum of math and science classes and are co-taught by MESA math and science teachers at Williams and Orland High Schools.
"I think exposing students to good math and science experiences in high school increases the chances of them majoring in those fields. MESA opens a lot of opportunities for everyone. If I have the resources, I'll release Professor Renner to MESA every semester," Fayek said.
Robotics classes are seldom taught in middle and high school because each robot kit costs about $250 and only two students can work on it at a time. Fayek and Ward not only made Renner's time and expertise available, they also donated $3,000 worth of robot kits.
The classes use the same basic structure as robotics courses for engineering and computer science students at CSU Chico. In March, the two high schools will face off in a competition at CSU Chico in which their robots will fight each other.
"These collaborations make a huge impact on MESA students and help them stay excited about math and science," Chico pre-college director Teresita Curiel said.
Students use the Lego Mindstorms kits that include basic Lego blocks and electronic blocks that work as sensors or motors. Students write code and manipulate the blocks to make the robots perform certain tasks.
"Many of these kids have never been exposed to programming or robots so for them, in a 50 minute session, to be able to create a program, download it to a device and make it do what they want it to—it's very exciting for them and for me," Renner said.
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