Last Friday the year 6 girls had a a Robogals incursion. Robogals offers technology workshops free-of-charge in their local communities, focusing on encouraging girls from primary to secondary school to explore an interest, as well as cultivate self-confidence, in these areas. Introducing female engineering students to girls at a young age also provides visibility to female role models, of which there is a significant deficit in the STEM field.
Aaron and Kim arrived with a case full of Lego Mindstorms robots and laptops. The session started with a presentation from Aaron about Robogals, STEM and the need in the community for females to study STEM courses. Then Kim explained to the girls about how to use ‘code’ to operate and control their robot.
The students made up teams of three and collected their equipment.
Our first challenge was to make the robot travel in a square.
Some of the students took the task seriously and even drew a rough plan.
Our Year 6 girls requested a group photo with Aaron and Kim from Robogals and with their robots. Mrs Cogger and the girls throughly enjoyed the incursion. We are sure that the visit has ‘sparked’ some interest in the girls considering STEM courses for a future career.
Ava and Mia created this iMovie about the incursion. Click on the link below.
Lastly Mrs Cogger would like to say that she arrived at school this morning and waiting on her desk was a lovely thank you card from the Year 6 girls. It made her day.
