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LEGO-Based Underwater Robotics as a Vehicle for Science and Engineering Learning (Curriculum Exchange)

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Conference

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Seattle, Washington

Publication Date

June 14, 2015

Start Date

June 14, 2015

End Date

June 17, 2015

ISBN

978-0-692-50180-1

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Curriculum Exchange

Tagged Division

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

3

Page Numbers

26.1080.1 - 26.1080.3

DOI

10.18260/p.24417

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/24417

Download Count

476

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Paper Authors

biography

Mercedes M McKay Stevens Institute of Technology (SES)

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Mercedes McKay is Deputy Director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) at Stevens Institute of Technology. She has led several national and statewide K-14 teacher professional development and curriculum development programs in STEM education. McKay is co-
PI and Project Director for the NSF-funded Build IT Scale Up project to develop and disseminate an innovative underwater robotics curriculum for middle and high school students. She is a former practicing engineer with high school science and mathematics teaching experience.

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biography

Jason Sayres Stevens Institute of Technology (SES)

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Jason Sayres is a Senior Curriculum and Professional Development Specialist at the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ. He specializes in development of STEM-based curricula, web applications, and teacher training. His current project is WaterBotics—a program that guides students in the design, construction, testing and redesign of a fully-functional underwater robot, using LEGO Mindstorms materials and programming kits.

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Abstract

LEGO®-Based Underwater Robotics as a Vehicle for Science and Engineering Learning (Curriculum Exchange)!Developed through a series of NSF grants, [Name of curriculum] is targeted at middle and highschool age youth, in both formal, in-school classroom environments as well as informal, out-of-school programs. Through a series of four scaffolded missions set in a real-world context,participants design, build, program and test a fully-functional underwater robot. Students learnabout key science topics essential to their robot’s operation, such as gears, buoyancy, stability,propulsion, and rotation. They are also introduced to the engineering design process (EDP), witheach mission taking them through one or more iterative design cycles. !The primary building materials in [Name of curriculum] are LEGO® pieces and componentsfrom the Mindstorms® system. The large variety of parts contained in the kits enables a widerange of creative and innovative designs, and their ease of use allows students to build theirrobots quickly and encourages frequent testing for immediate feedback and redesign ideas. Forthe curriculum exchange, we will provide handouts that include: an overview of the curriculumand its missions, a list of all the materials necessary to implement the project, an illustrateddescription of how the major electronic components are water-proofed, the first mission briefing(design challenge handout for students), and follow-up contact information and website links.Additionally, we will demonstrate one sample robot and bring additional LEGO® and other robotcomponents that participants can experiment with during the session to modify and improve therobot.

McKay, M. M., & Sayres, J. (2015, June), LEGO-Based Underwater Robotics as a Vehicle for Science and Engineering Learning (Curriculum Exchange) Paper presented at 2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/p.24417

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