ATLIS 2017

Creating an inclusive STEM curriculum from middle school through high school is a challenge for many schools. One path begins with teaching students basic programming and electronics and finishes with an introduction to electrical and computer engineering.

At Poughkeepsie Day School, the sixth grade students get a BBC Microbit and learn basic electronics and block language programming. In seventh and eighth grades, in conjunction with a research paper on an inventor, the students build a working model the inventor created.

At Stevenson School (Pebble Beach, CA), in an advanced robotics elective, students move past high level programming languages and use the power of the C language to directly control sensors and motors. The Arduino is an ideal platform for this introduction with its versatile C language development environment and its open hardware interface. A 10 week course has been developed around these concepts as a basis for robotics work, a way to expose students to freshman level electrical and computer engineering related coursework, and a window into the field of embedded design.

This session will provide both hands-on demonstrations and an open discussion on implementing a STEM curriculum.