CRESTVIEW — Cadis Ammons was stumped. His coding had a flaw, but where?
The 12-year-old knew better than to turn to his teacher for an answer. He knew what the reply would be.
“You figure it out,” Julia Bailey, 13, said, repeating Davidson Middle School robotics teacher Tim Sexton’s frequent instruction.
“They’re learning by trying and doing,” Sexton said.
See photos of Davidson robotics students doing summer coding>>
That’s a valuable lesson for the students' future careers in science and engineering.
“That’s what engineering is all about,” Eglin Air Force Base civilian computer engineer Matthew Smith said. “We run into that every day. It’s about problem solving. You don’t read a book and find an answer.”
With helpful nudges from Sexton and intern Matthew Klein, a Collegiate High School rising senior, Cadis, Julia, Jaynie Darby, 13, and Joshua Valdez, 12, volunteered to spend last week writing lines of computer code.
Their goal is to program Fenderbot, the class robot, to welcome new Panthers to Davidson this fall, and to eventually read to special education students.
RISE CLASS
The kids are students in Sexton’s Robotics Integration in STEMM Education, or RISE, classes.
“I asked the RISE students if any would like to come in this summer and help with coding,” Sexton said. “I hoped for maybe one student and I got four. I think that says something.”
This fall, Sexton’s RISE program will expand from one to two classes.
“Fifty students get to learn while they’re having fun,” Sexton said. “My goal is that they learn about different careers and opportunities in science and engineering, because not every kid is made for college.”
RISE students work in areas such as robotics, rocket science, computer-aided design, mobile applications and 3-D printing. Sexton also imparts some basics.
“We do practical skills where they learn to put a shelf up or work a tape measure, too,” he said.
3D PRINTING
The classes’ 3D printer is an important tool, Sexton said. As an exercise, he printed the structure of a drone in which a RISE parent will install electronics and motors. The drone will be used in the fall’s RISE classes.
“My plan is they learn to use CAD skills to design pieces and do the 3D printing,” he said. “I want to get more 3D printers in the classroom so more than one student at a time can print.”
Smith said Sexton is smart to incorporate the device in his classes, because the technology is rapidly gaining use in many engineering fields, including defense contracting.
“It is great for rapid prototyping,” Smith said, adding at his previous job with a defense contractor, 3D printers created life-saving objects. “We used it for soldiers in the field to be able to look at and touch representative components of IEDs.”
“I want my kids to be workforce ready when they leave my class in eighth grade,” Sexton said. “I hope they’ll go to the CHOICE programs at Crestview High. A lot of our curriculum flows into their programs.”
LIGHTBULB MOMENTS
Watching his kids triumph over challenges, both during coding week and in RISE class, gives Sexton satisfaction.
“What I like is seeing the little happy dance they do when they succeed,” he said.
“It is kind of frustrating at first,” Julia said. “But I liked doing it. I think it’s better to learn things for yourself.”
For Cadis, conquering a coding problem smoothed the next steps as he and his fellow coders programmed Fenderbot.
“You just have to know what to do with the code,” he said. “Once you know what to do, it becomes easy.”
“They don’t realize it, but everything they do is a learning experience that will help them in their career later on,” Smith said.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Davidson robotics students learn skills for future science, engineering careers