Executive Director's Desk: Follow-up & Updates from HI-TECH & FACTE

I have covered apprenticeships and internships in detail the past two months, but perhaps it is time to take a break this month and highlight the 5^th annual High Impact Technology

Exchange conference (www.highimpact-tec.org) held July 20-24 in Austin, TX. This conference was established, is organized and sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Advanced Technological Education (ATE) Centers to meet the needs of educators that teach, or are involved with advanced technological education at the secondary and post-secondary levels. Over 500 attendees convened for four days of workshops, tours, presentations, meetings, exhibits, and networking. Conference trademarks that contribute to its success include: tightly focused sessions on trends in new technologies, pedagogies, strategies for working with industry and other partners, grant management and implementation, industry site visits that get people talking, and recognition awards for those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty.  

FLATE took the 2013 conference opportunity to open a nationwide, cross-country conversation on mechatronics. Ninety five interested folks attended our panel session designed to explore mechatronics programs across the country and its emerging role as an enabling technology cluster that supports a variety of technology disciplines. The interest in the panel was electrifying and sparked conversations and connections for the following three days that will put new focus on mechatronics and mechatronics related technologies for the coming years across the country.

FLATE will organize an expanded mechatronics program for HiTEC 2014.  Stay tuned for more mechatronics and “mech” community building in the coming months and  plan to join us at HiTEC 2014 next July in Chicago.  I’d like to thank my colleagues who helped make this year's effort happen including our panel: Ernie Friend (FSCJ); Dan Horine (VWCC) and Niaz Latif (PUC) for sharing the interworking of their own programs. A special thank-you to everyone who enthusiastically provided information during the “Mechatronics Moments” pre-conference session that dramatically changed the image of mechatronics. Kudos and many thanks to LabVolt for its support and each of you and your teams for your incredible contributions!  Rest assured the Mechatronics Moments pre-conference session will be back next year!

FLATE was also extremely pleased to have Michael Ennis, manufacturing engineer at Harris Corporation chosen for the prestigious Industry Recognition Award at HiTEC. This national award recognizes an industry partner that provides exceptional support to technician education and the students in our technical programs. I am sure that there are many deserving folks out there that meet the criteria, but we are very proud that Michael was selected for this honor at HiTEC 2013. We think all of our industry partners are winners, but are truly happy to have Mike recognized in a national venue like HiTEC.  Congratulations Mike Ennis!

Immediately following HiTEC the FLATE team scurried from Austin to Ponte Vedra, FL, for

the annual Florida Association for Career and Technical Education conference to present our activity packed workshop focused on integrating Manufacturing Skills Standard Council (MSSC) into our Florida high school curriculum. Neil Reddy, executive director of MSSC presented an overview of MSSC and CPT credentials, while Ted Norman, state supervisor for manufacturing, transportation and logistics, did the same for the Florida Department of Education curriculum frameworks.  Aaron Bowman from JAXUSA Partnership gave workshop participants a wonderful snapshot about the manufacturing industry in the greater Jacksonville area. Three teachers, Jack Clark from Treasure Coast High School, Dale Toney from Marion Technical Institute, and Russ Hernderlite from Petersen Academy in Jacksonville, lead an intense panel conversation on their best practices for implementing and integrating the four MSSC tests into their Automation and Production Technology aligned programs. Two intense hands-on activities filled out the day as well as provided the seeds for some shared resources for our manufacturing high school partners. Thanks to the FACTE organization team for their help.

Now it's time to sit back, relax and enjoy this August issue of the FLATE Focus.  For those of you have been anxiously waiting, the solution to STEM puzzle #35 is revealed!  We also showcase many of our summer professional development activities and our student robotics camps, not to mention the incredible teachers and young people who participated.  An overview of the recently released National STEM Strategic Plan is also provided in this month issue.

PLEASE NOTE:  This is the final (YES last 30 days) to submit your nominations for FLATE’s Educator and Distinguished Industry Partner awards.  Click here to go right to the online nomination form, and recognize your colleagues and/or peers. 

A National STEM Strategic Plan Proposal

The news from the "sTEm-at-work" desk here at FLATE FOCUS is centered on the

National Science and Technology Council 's, Committee on STEM Education which recently released a five year strategic plan.  The latest iteration of the President's proposed 2014 budget request has at least a 6% funds increase allocation for STEM education. Included in the strategy for 2014 fund allocation is the intent to reduce the number of federally supported programs (currently approximately 225) to closer to 100 (the announced target number at this point is 110) programs. The details of the proposed STEM program changes are available in the five year Federal STEM Education Strategic Plan prepared by the Committee on STEM Education of the National Science and Technology Council as required by the America Competes Reauthorization Act of 2010.

The driving force for the stated approach is the attempt to increase the effectiveness of federally supported programs to improve STEM education.  Integrated with this intention to improve performance is the desire to establish useful measures of program impact. At this point, other than the need to consolidate, specific details about the consolidation process and the impact on the programs affected are not available.  However, the Plan does outline the altered roles for the Department of Education and the National Science Foundation.

The Department of Education role will increase with efforts focused on K-12 by supporting partnerships among school districts, universities, science agencies, businesses, and other community organizations. The objective will be to transform  teaching and learning by crafting a STEM relevant teacher. Suggested strategies for this task are to establish a STEM Master Teacher Corps and create STEM Innovation Networks to connect school districts with available  local, regional, and national STEM resources.

The National Science Foundation's role will also increase. NSF resources will be directed to undergraduate STEM teaching and learning as driven by evidence-based reform approaches. This effort will include programs aimed at improving retention within undergraduate STEM fields, expansion and enhancement of graduate fellowship programs, and the creation of a National Graduate Research Fellowship program.

In addition, the Smithsonian Institution will receive funds to focus on improving its informal STEM education efforts. This includes partnering with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to reach more teachers and students both inside and outside the classroom. The distribution of these funds and extent of these partnerships were not outlined. 

Tthe bottom line at this point is simple. There is more funding for STEM education in the pipeline with a bit more focus on the "E" part of "sTEm"  but not much evidence of any serious additional support for the "T". Thus, it may be up to the ATE community to alter this current path.

Action suggestions?

FLATE’s Robotics Camps Offer a STEM-ultimate Experience for Future Engineers

Middle and high school students attending FLATE’s robotics camp got a full serving of

robotics and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) to whet their appetite. “Science is basically logic and reasoning, it’s what the universe is about” said Christopher Browy, a 5^th grader at Christ the King Catholic school in Tampa.  “We love mathematics, robotics, science and technology” said Luca Valenti and Brennan Gill, 5^th graders at the same school. Christopher, Luca and Brennan were among 141 students who enrolled in FLATE’s robotics camps this summer.

This year FLATE offered six (three intro level; 2 intermediate and one high school) robotics

camps. Curriculum for all the camps comprised of a mixture of LEGO educational materials that were integrated with STEM subjects. Each camp offered different level of challenges. During the introductory camp students learned how to reconfigure Lego® Mindstorms® robots and programmed them to follow specific commands. “The exercises were fun as they challenged your ability to really think” said Brennan.

The intermediate camps presented students with more complex challenges. Campers designed, built and programmed a robot, learned about 3D printers and gained hands-on knowledge about CAD.  “I love when a robot breaks. If your robot works all the time you don’t get to be challenged” said Karina Barcenas, an 8^th grader at St. Lawrence Catholic School in Tampa. Barcenas found the challenges harder in the intermediate camp, but said she learned a lot.

The pinnacle for every camper as they progress through each level is the advanced

engineering camp for high school students. At the camp, students not only solved challenges using Lego® Mindstorms® robots, but learned different topics each day and wrote programs to operate the NAO humanoid robot. The high school campers also learned how to use Arduino Uno Microprocessors. “The Arduino taught me how to do more of circuitry and actually write programs on the computer, so it taught me a lot more” said Jefferson Vance, a 9^th grader at Middleton High School in Tampa.

As part of the high school challenge, campers were presented with the “cable tram challenge.” Campers had to design, build and program a robot to crawl across a make-believe canyon to pick up buckets and transport them back to a drop-off location. For Randy, a 9^th grader at Wesley Chapel High School in Tampa and his team (named Hyperion Inc.) one of the basic concepts that they had to understand about the robot was the drive train. Once they got that figured out everything was smooth sailing, in that theirs was the only robot that never slipped off the wire.

The camps were not all work and no play. The “fun part” for most high school campers was programming the NXT robot and also working with the NAO robot. The best part of the camp for Brennan, who was in the intro camp, was the challenges as it gave him a better understanding about programming and building a robot. “It’s a really fun way to release your creativity, show who you are and how you like things done” Brennan said.   

Common takeaways for all campers regardless of which camp they attended were teamwork,

developing problem-solving and critical thinking skills. “I like that the challenges made us work together as a team” said Luca. Christopher Browy also liked the competitive aspect of the challenges as it gave him a fresh perspective on how to operate robots. “This is like one of the best camps I’ve ever been to and probably the best place to start if you want to become an engineer” said Nick Burke, a high school camp attendee from Wharton High School in Tampa. Randy also enjoyed working in small groups and easy access to instructors who helped with programing and giving ideas for improvement.

This summer FLATE’s robotics attendance was excellent, said Desh Bagley, FLATE’s outreach manager and camp director. The “all girls” camp had its highest enrollment at 21, and the high school camp had 28 campers.  The Intermediate camps saw an increase in the number of girls who decided to return after having participated in the intro camp.  In addition to the camps offered at Hillsborough Community College in Brandon, FLATE also partnered with the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Ocala and Pineview Charter School in Sarasota to offer camps at the respective locations. 

For more information on FLATE’s STEM and robotics based curriculum and projects for middle and high school students visit www.fl-ate.org/projects/camps.html, and www.madeinflorida.org. You can also contact Desh Bagley, outreach manager at camps@fl-ate.org, and Dr. Marilyn Barger, executive director at barger@fl-ate.org. 

sTEm–at-Work Puzzle #35 Answer

Problem: Gasket response to an applied test pressure pattern

    

Analysis

There are a variety of reinforcement conversations that spring from this puzzle. The gasket leaks under high pressure, is evident from the height of the second pulse pattern response curve.  An important lesson is to make sure students understand that the exponential rise and decay of the response pressure is an expected behavior and not an indication of a gasket leak. These conversations can include, when grade level appropriate, the exponential nature of this portion of the response curve, the time constant concept and the analogous connection that the exponential portion of the data has to the resistor in series with a capacitor circuit response when an applied voltage (the RC series circuit model) with the same step function pattern is applied. The math explanation of this exponential response to students ranges from simple time constant calculation, time constant connection to the 1/e response value, to the 1st order differential equation for the RC series circuit model. Student Google searches on these topics will provide a plethora of extra information.

The actuator should be shipped to the customer. Answer: NO