Montessori Center School is launching an after-school robotics curriculum for its students starting Jan. 11 with funding through a grant from Raytheon. The course will consist of three 10-week sessions (winter, spring and fall).
“We plan to turn it into a multi-year program,” said Ryan Conolley, an electrical systems engineer at Raytheon and fourth-grade parent at Montessori Center School.
Conolley plans to teach the course with Ryan Rumsey, another software engineer/programmer from Raytheon. Conolley also helped Dos Pueblos High School for three years with its ongoing Engineering Academy.
“Montessori’s robotics course will teach basic programming concepts while strengthening students’ problem solving skills,” Conolley said.
“Although not officially associated with the international FIRST LEGO League competition, the course will follow and comply with FIRST’s missions, competitions and goals, challenging kids to think like scientists and engineers as they choose and solve a real-world problem,” he said.
The league’s Into Orbit season is 2018-19. Montessori elementary students will build, test and program an autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS technology to solve a set of missions in the Robot Game.
“For example, the children might choose to program a robot to get the fuel cell to the launch platform and rescue the astronaut,” Conolley said. “They’ll be able to pick from approximately 15 missions, prioritizing by the number of points each mission earns.”
Throughout their experience, the children will operate under FIRST’s signature set of core values: discovery, teamwork, and Gracious Professionalism.
“Core values are scored at FIRST’s competitions just as heavily as how your robot does,” Conolley said. “Each student has to talk with a judge about their thought process, how the robot works, and their core values. So what we’ll be teaching is half science and half how to be a good professional.
“On Aug. 1, 2019, FIRST LEGO League will announce new missions and competitions. So we will do some preparation for their competitions before the fall 2019 class. We will pick students in the spring class to compete in the fall, hopefully in Santa Maria or Camarillo.
“We plan to compete in two nearby county events per year, then move up to regional and state championships.”
“This will be a great learning opportunity for my son and the other students who participate,” Conolley said. “We will work with students ages 9-12 as FIRST LEGO League accepts fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders. We may also accept some third graders into the class.
“The course will prepare them for higher level learning and future jobs in a world that is changing rapidly. Others at Montessori Center School teach computer programming.
The school’s technology and math programs have an annual Science Night to show off their science projects; most classes participate in the school’s annual science fairs.
Upper Elementary does year-long projects with individual themes and subjects the students study throught the school year.
“They then present their projects in a fair format in the spring,” Conolley said. “So we consider the robotics course a perfect complement to the school’s science-based curriculum.”
For more information about the robotics course, contact Montessori Center School, 805-683-9383.
— Jonatha King for Montessori Center School.