Students in Sandy Huertas’ choice classes are learning while having fun with robots.
About 450 students come through Huertas’ classroom and are able to use the STEM equipment funded by the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.
They can learn a multitude of things — persistence, motivation — to name a few. When students aren’t motivated with school work, they come to STEM and learn to use a different set of skills, talents and tools whereas they may not excel in reading or math, they find they understand — and enjoy — the logistics and intricacies of coding, engineering, and critical analysis. “Their persistence is lead by how much they enjoy it,” Huertas said.
“In addition to that, students are able to get a chance to find their niche in a changing world. A world where more opportunities are presenting themselves in this world of technology. The workforce is changing to a more technological based workforce. STEM helps them prepare for that, become familiar with that and helps them succeed in that environment,” she added.
The students use Bee Bots, Blue Bots and Ozobots. Huertas said they are coded using a specific set of colors that “tell” students what to do like a tornado, go fast, turbo or turn in the opposite direction, for example.
Eight-year-old Michael Barraza really enjoyed working on a recent project. “It’s awesome,” Barraza said.
He added that what was awesome was “everything.”
