Teaching Girls to be Brave, not Perfect

The scene:

Frozen, she stared at her RobotC program on the screen. 

Her lifeless partner, the robot, yearning for an algorithm, stood in front of her.

USB cable unplugged. No connection between them. 

While looking at the two of them, suddenly, it occurred to me--she might be afraid that her program won't work. I thought of Reshma Saujani and her TED Talk: Teach Girls Bravery, Not Perfection. I had watched her stare at the screen for days, trying to encourage her, but it wasn't until a colleague sent me Saujani's Ted Talk that I realized what might be happening here. Girls are often refrain trying things and takings risks due to fear of not getting it perfect.

I sat down next to them.
"Have you tested your program?" I asked.
"No," she nodded.
"Well, let's do it and see what happens. Then we'll have some information about how it works."
A sheepish and concerned "Okay," was barely audible.

She plugged in her USB cord. The familiar download sound occurred.

Run.

The robot came to life, engaging in unpredicted antics, as the arm pushed down forcefully lifting the front part of the robot off the counter and turned wildly to the left and back etc... Not, what she wanted to happen. (I could have predicted this.) Excitedly, I started asking her questions.

She smiled and we began debugging together.

As often happens, class was over just when it started to get interesting. (A topic for another post.)

EV3s Ready for 2nd Semester

Second semester base robots have been built by the students and are poised for another term of abuse. The greater my organization, the minimal harm to the robots and the greater the learning. From one semester to the next, my organization seems to steadily improve, but mostly by small increments. This semester however was different. A major reorganization of my classroom including: tearing out some wall-mounted table tops; installation of  a white-board wall; and the reorienting of the projector to face away from the door, produced an major organizational leap forward. I am excited about the time that will be saved. Here are some photos and bullet points describing my course.

• I color code everything! As you can see from the photos. 
• I use Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Academy EV3 Curriculum.  
• Kids use 2 computers. One with curriculum open and one with LEGO Mindstorms open.
• They watch curriculum videos using color coded earbuds.
• Earbuds are kept in color coded baggies, stored behind robot in parking spaces. 
• Color coded USB cables are stored in parking spaces. 
• Classes are 40-45 minutes long. Kids come in a get right work. 
• Kids that move through curricular challenges faster, completes others that I create or they create their own challenges. 
• They pseudocode only the final challenges for each module. 
• There are entrance procedures and exit procedures. 

 
Color coded robot parking spaces.

Color coded LEGO element toolkits.

       Whiteboard "wall-paper."

 

"How Close to the Edge?"- challenge.

One last thing. Every semester students evaluate their courses using an electronic "Student Feedback Intsrument." One question asks students whether or not the "Teacher integrates and uses technology in the course." As a reminder of the spectrum of perception on which middle school students can be, I give you these three responses:

• We use tech all the time.
• Not really.
• It's a robotics class. 

This made me smile. 

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.