Rationale
In every aspect of human life, technological advancement has been playing a pivotal role: in aviation, health care, manufacturing and many more areas just to name a few. To sustain the current technological advancement, more students should aspire to go into STEM careers.
In order to achieve this, more emphasis will have to be placed on the technologies our students and teachers are exposed to.
Students and teachers should, now, be equipped with the latest technological solutions so that they can properly engage students in the classroom. One such technology that students and teachers should be exposed to is robotics. Robotics can be used to enhance the teaching and learning of many topics in many different subject areas. This brings a hands-on-based approach to learning and it builds creativity and critical thinking skills.
The link between theory and practice will be established as robotics also brings relevance the subject matter. Learning will, therefore, be more wholesome and meaningful for the learner and this should lead to more creativity and critical thinking which should enhance STEM in the Jamaican context.
The Mico University College through its School of Continuing Studies offers workshops and short courses in robotics product solutions to empower teachers in embracing teaching as problem solving.
Objectives
- To diversify the tools/resources available to teachers in the Jamaican context so that the teaching of STEM subjects can be relevant and hands on.
- To use robotics and robotics technology to enhance critical thinking, classroom management, and to provide alternative forms of assessment.
- To engender the disposition compatible with reflectivity and entrepreneurship.
Structure
Short courses, workshops and camps are designed in robotics product solutions. They cover school curricular topics including direct proportion, inverse proportion, data collection, speed, velocity, and displacement. In particular, the following are available:
- Workshops: robotics as a teaching tool for teachers
- Robotics camps for students
- Robotics short courses for teachers
- Robotics as an intervention tool for troubled schools (Consultancy Service)
Workshop and camp duration: Two three hour sessions (6 hours)
Cost
- Workshops
$5,000 (including lunch) per participant for a group of 25
- Camps
$10,000 per person
- Short Course (45 hr duration)
$35,000 per participant
- Consultancy
$8,000 per hour
