Mount Vernon STEAM Academy scholars learn about robotics through hands-on learning

Scholars throughout Mount Vernon STEAM Academy were testing their latest robotics projects Tuesday afternoon, working on maneuvering and programming them to do certain tasks. The vision of the Mount Vernon STEAM Academy is to prepare students for success in the 21st century by providing innovative learning opportunities through a STEAM lens.

Students enrolled in Katherine Hallissy Ayala’s Computer Science Essentials course were working on their robots as part of Project Lead the Way. This initiative is designed to provide students with comprehensive STEM lessons through hands-on learning. 

“I think what's distinctive about the Project Lead the Way curriculum is it's completely project based learning,” said Ms.Hallissy Ayala. “You're always given a scenario, a problem to solve, a project to do, so it's very hands-on. I usually do like a mini lesson to introduce what we're working on.”

Prior to Tuesday’s lesson, students have been learning about block coding and how to build software applications for users to download onto their devices. Now, they are utilizing their knowledge of block coding to program their robots to move in certain directions. For this lesson, students were tasked with navigating their robots through a pathway with twists and turns. 

“We've been working on these robots and we have transitioned from script to code,” said Qasim Ali, a sophomore at STEAM. “Recently we started to program these robots using the help of our VEXcode blocks and it's been a pretty great journey so far.”

Students taking this course will eventually have the opportunity to enroll in other classes such as Computer Science Principles and Cyber Security. 

In Peter Poliey’s Robotics class, an elective offered to all students; they have been learning about the history of robotics, as well as how to program and code virtual robots before working with physical robots. Currently, they are getting hands-on experience working with the robots to learn how to program them to move. 

“I like how the codes work together to get parts of the robot to move,” said Analia Albayero, a freshman at STEAM. “I like that we can make these ourselves, to make our own codes and then putting the codes together to get them to move.” 

To learn more about additional pathways offered at STEAM Academy, such as Biomedical Science, view the story here.