Four secondary schools on Thursday put their robotics skills to the test in an exhilarating competition to demonstrate what they would have grasped from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) training over the past five weeks.
One participant testing his robot before the final presentation
Robotics education sessions are offered continuously by the Volunteer Youth Corps (VYC) with 11 secondary schools, but for this initiative, six institutions were specifically targeted.
According to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organisation Goldie Scott, robotics education was only added one year ago to their agenda, but there has been an overwhelming response.
“The organisation specialises in STEM education, working with high school students and teachers at 11 high schools in Georgetown…This event is another component of our work under STEM and VYC has been working for the last year or so because robotics education has been a relatively new component added. While we work with the 11 high schools, six are ones we had targeted to do robotics education,” Scott indicated.
Students interacting during the competition
With assistance from ExxonMobil, the competition featured students from four institutions – including Tucville Secondary, Dolphin Secondary, Richard Ishmael Secondary and Central High School – who are all from the Grades Nine and 10. They were placed in pairs to produce a practical robot that could perform some exceptional function.
For the continuous school programme, the organisation is seeking to source adequate robots and additional components, enabling students to create intricate machines.
“This coming year, we’re looking to see that we’re able to strengthen that programme, ensuring that the schools have adequate robots to work with the students. It’s a sign for each school to work with a minimum of 15 students and this programme is continuous,” the CEO related.
Scott positioned that such initiatives build innovation and create opportunities in the fields of science. She believes informational communication technology is the way forward in an advanced world.
“Our goal is that we can create or build innovation and creativity among our young people and it’s also to help them in choices of career, whether its information technology, engineering or just ICT. The world as we know it today needs students to become scientist, engineers and problem-solving leaders of tomorrow”.
Participants were eager to bring their robots to life and compete for a chance to be placed first. They were judged based on four criteria by experienced personnel from the mathematics and engineering fields.
Earlier this year, students from a number of schools were given a chance to partake in a country-wide robotics competition, battling among the best to produce an outstanding mechanical creation.
