From Coding a Robot to Valuable Life Skills: ORISE Boe-Bots Academy Has Something for Everyone

In today’s world of technology and scientific discoveries, it’s never too early to introduce children to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, especially how to understand coding.

Coding is intertwined into just about every bit of technology we encounter daily, from the GPS in our cars to the cell phones that we carry around in our pocket. In June, students from across East Tennessee came together to take part in ORISE’s Boe-Bots Academy, a week-long camp where each participant had the chance to design, build, and program a robot. Let’s take a deeper look at what the week entailed!

What is a Boe-Bot?

Boe–Bot is short for Board of Education robot. It is the trade name of a robot kit that is used in junior high, high school and college robotics classes. Each Boe-Bot kit contains the necessary hardware, circuits, motors, and sensors to build a functional robot created to complete a variety of tasks throughout the week. The students were even able to use sensors to train their robots to avoid certain colors, enabling them to make full rotations to weave through an obstacle course.

Who Participated?

The Boe-Bots Mini-Academy was free for rising seventh, eighth, and ninth grade students. While some students had prior experience with coding and robotics, some were getting their introduction to these exciting topics. No matter their experience level, every student was able to take away something they didn’t know coming into the week.

Nathan Kenner, an engineering teacher at West High School in Knoxville, was the instructor for the course. Maggie Kenny, a sixth grade teacher at Bearden Middle School in Knoxville, served as the assistant instructor. She described the opportunity as a full-circle moment.

“I actually participated in a robotics camp here back in 2013,” Kenny said. “We did Vex so it was a little bit different, but it’s cool to have that reality that I did it and now I get to help others do it. I understand their perspectives more because I was once in their shoes trying to solve these problems, and now I can share my insight on what I went through.”

For Kenner, this was his third year leading the Boe-Bots Mini-Academy, and he is still learning new things about teaching the course. He likes to teach the course because he enjoys seeing the participants work their way through the various challenges each year.

“I have a general theme with anything that I teach. I want my students to know how to learn, believe that they can learn anything, and then to be at least a little excited about it,” Kenner said. “Every year that I teach this course, there are really cool kids who get value out of this because they decide to be here during their summer break, and they choose to invest in high quality learning.”

More than Just Robotics

While some of the participants we spoke with aspired to go into a STEM-related field later in life, the lessons learned during the Boe-Bots Mini-Academy are ones that each student will remember long after the summer is over. Throughout the week, there were various problems that arose for the students, from robots not turning in the right direction all the way to short-circuiting a few sensors. No matter what challenges the students faced, they always found a way to work through the kinks. The lessons of grit, determination, teamwork, and problem-solving are something that Natalie Shanafield, a rising eighth grader at Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, will take away from this amazing experience.

“We are learning many different things. Of course, building and coding, but also problem solving and patience,” said Shanafield. “I short-circuited one of the lights, so I had to fix that and rewire everything to put it back together. You can’t achieve anything without hard work.”

On top of that, Justin Gift, a rising eighth grader, mentioned one of the things that he loved most about the program is getting to make some new friends who had similar interests to him.

“I have met a lot of new friends this week, and I have enjoyed talking to them,” said Gift. “If you enjoy a really big challenge, I recommend this class. In the future, I want to make video games, or something similar with coding, so this has helped.”

What Else is Happening This Summer?

June is a busy month, as ORISE is hosting an array of summer academies for students and an abundance of professional development programs for teachers as well. Be sure to check our website to stay up to date with everything that we have going on to prepare both students and teachers for the upcoming school year.