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Originally Posted by DCA Fan
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Our Robotics Camps are one of our biggest fundraisers. It was mindblowing how smart some...MOST of these kids were. I had a blast, it was a learning experience for both the students and mentors.
We do two sessions, one begginner and one advanced. Both using Lego Mindstorms and each lasting two weeks. From 1-5pm. We have challenges for them for most of the time then on the second to last day we organize the kits, then the last day one of our mentors gives a speech about robotics in general, and the rest of the day is a party day where we give the kids a chance to drive the past robots we have built, play with the RoboSapiens one of our mentors owns, and just socialize in general. Last year, and as well as this year, some of the kids of the camps came to join Beach Cities Robotics for the build season. This one student, Haley, is starting her own Lego League as well as joing our team.
Some kids had some trouble with problem solving. Figuring out how to make the programming do what the task at hand called for. Patience is a virtue. Some of the student leaders got in to the Lego Mindstorms themselves, and started to write the programming for them because they were doing the problem solving themselves. They weren't doing it intentionally, they just got into it. You just have to remember to guide them to finding the answer, don't give it to them. Whenever one of the students came up to me and asked for help, i always made them recite to me what their task was, then we took step by step. For example:
One of the tasks could be following a wall using touch sensors. I would have them break down every little thing that would have to go on in order for that to happen. (go forward, wait till touch1, then they had to figure out which way they ahd to turn, for how long, then to go forward. WHich motors to change directions all when touch1 was hit).
I think the most important thing for me about the camps is that the kids have fun. Throughout the camp I would ask them if they liked it, if they were having fun, if they would come back, what was their favorite thing about the camp. They would always be enthusiastic, mostly because they loved the competitions. At the end of each day we would gather around the "competition field" and everyone would see what everyone else came up with. It was a blast, i wish that our web cam was pointed towards the field so the parents could have seen it from home, but now we know for next year.
I had some other things to say, but I can't remember them at the moment. Good Luck, and make sure you guys (the people teaching) have fun too.