• New Beginnings, Renewed Commitments
• Engineering Month: Celebrating Engineering at Texas Tech
• Workshop Spotlight:
  Introduction to Robotics
• Classroom Connection: Highlights from the Web

Workshop Spotlight

Introduction to Robotics

This article is the first in a series featuring upcoming workshops offered at this summer's teacher training workshops.

Whether you're looking for a new way to teach logical thinking skills and science or simply a fun way to do professional development, Introduction to Robotics is a summer highlight of the center's annual teacher training workshops.

Covering in-depth topics ranging from the history of robotics and basic ROBOLAB programming to gear ratios and classroom lesson plans, Introduction to Robotics is a great way for science and technology teachers to incorporate a new teaching style into their curriculum or prepare their classes to compete in competitions like FIRST Lego League.

Leading the investigation into bricks and bytes is Instructor Malli Travis. A long-time supporter of K-12 engineering outreach, Travis is well-known around Lubbock ISD for her engineering classroom projects that include underwater robotics missions and high-flying rocket launches.

In addition to her full-time duties at Dunbar Middle School in Lubbock, a Pre-college Engineering Academy school, Travis' work with students continues after the school bell in a variety of after school programs that encourage students to consider engineering careers. That same drive extends into workshop classes, where Travis is often found helping teachers troubleshoot their projects long after class time is over.

And extra time is one of the reason's for the workshop's success. Teachers who attend the five-day workshop get more than a simple introduction to how everything works - instead they learn how everything can work together in their classroom.

With extra time for collaborating on lesson plan ideas with colleagues or tinkering with robotics projects, teachers continually remark that our in-depth training approach is what sets our teacher training workshops apart from other professional development programs.

Each Introduction to Robotics participant receives a Lego® Mindstorms robotics kit with ROBOLAB™ software for their classroom. This year's workshop is scheduled for June 11-16 at the Texas Tech University Center at Junction.