Loyola Stars

intro to computing class

jherreraluc — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:29:44 -0500

We have finally started using the internet and the ladies have so many questions and doubts. Some have stated that the internet is the reason why they do not agree so much with technology, they are scared of the dangers that it might bring to their children. after wrapping up our class at noon( 3hours of discusion, question and answer, and demonstration) i felt the ladies left with a better view of the internet and not to be so afraid of it.

I really enjoyed this class because it seemed like the ladies really learned a lot of what the internet can provide and the benefits of having it at home. they keep mentioning that they cant wait to learn how to pay their bills online. i have actually restructured the class to be 3 hours instead of 2 since in the previous 4 classes we have always stayed another 30mns and since now that we have gotten to the internet part it seems that the ladies have a lot more questions. also since i noticed that they are so interested in learning to pay their bills online i have changed my last two classes to be based on just teaching them how to pay their bills and giving them that one on one attention since i feel that it is a delicate subject when it comes to personal things like their bank accounts and bills.

I am also very happy to see that they have actaully been practicing outside of class and many of them successfully finished their small project on time. the ones that finished were very proud of their work and could not wait to show me. Since none of them had used word before, this project was very new to them and exciting. some of them are planning to keep practicing so they can one day use them for creating party invitations and letters and so forth. i am glad I was able to give them that type of security and break away that fear of using a computer. A lot of them kept mentioning that they were afraid of touching a computer because they were afraid of touching something and breaking it. and now they are actually going home and practicing on their own. to me this is a milestone and im very happy!

In our next class we will taking a look at gmail and creating our email and playing around with it. so Im really looking forward our next class.

Jessica Herrera

Steinmetz HTML Class Assistance, Sem. 2 Interim

jnepomuceno — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:23:30 -0500

To preface this entry, some weeks ago the site code.org created a short video starring several big names of tech talking about their early programming experiences and how they applied to their lives in general, not just in their job. Since watching the video, it’s had an interesting effect on how I go about helping out the students at Steinmetz: even if they’re just using HTML and not a “full” language such as Java, or even a non-tecchie-friendly IDE like Scratch, they are still learning a little of the basic underlying concepts of computers and all things involved with it.

It’s been several weeks into the second semester, and just recently we’ve started going over some slightly more complicated assignments. Interestingly enough, the complications (and learning opportunities) don’t necessarily arise from the procedures (as outlined in the textbook we use, they are relatively straightforward) - they occur when someone makes a typo in the HTML itself: several times, students accidentally use a semi-colon where a colon should be and vice versa; some students leave an errant tag; in one instance, even a missing *space* led to very interesting ouput. Even the more advanced students have made such mistakes from time to time. It’s been somewhat trying to spend a few minutes intensely scanning their code to find what and where the problems are, but also rewarding. I’m able to show them the humor in the troubleshooting: computers will blindly follow whatever orders you give them, even if it results in something that’s hardly what you desire them to do!

In the second of the two classes I help out on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’ve been spending more time performing this type of troubleshooting as opposed to more administrative tasks like taking grades - incidentally, such duties have been taken up by another volunteer, a Steinmetz student working for service hours. He adds an interesting dynamic to the class - one does get the impression he uses most of his time to chat up the class’s girls, but on the other hand, it seems to reinforce my authority when I’m able to find typos he missed. Regardless, the class overall performs the day-to-day assignments very well, and they do discuss with each other how to do the assignment, something I feel should be encouraged as it does promote a learning atmosphere. (At least, for those who can stand the other student teacher!)

In addition to more specific troubleshooting, I’ve also been tasked occasionally to help catch up specific students on late assignments. Of note, before anything else, is the approach: how does one do this without accidentally offending them? Sometimes I’ve had the teacher specifically do the “hand-off,” other times I’ve had to walk up to them, sometimes while they’ve been preoccupied with non-homework activity. For the most part they are compliant; still, a difficulty does arise in how to actually teach the material. Ideally, they walk themselves through the procedures; extenuating circumstances like deficiencies in reading or typing, or even lack of motivation or energy, all of which can be linked - necessitates a sort of hand-holding until they get that self-direction.

Needless to say, I’ve learned a lot from my experience so far here; when all’s said and done, though, I hope I’ve been able to provide to these classes something more than their grades. Practical HTML isn’t the most exciting introduction to computers, but it might just be one of the most accessible, and that, more than anything, is what’s important at this stage of education.

3rd Saturday of comp Class

jherreraluc — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 10:47:38 -0600

This Saturday was very exciting because we actually started looking at how to write into the computer. we began by looking at notepad, and then at wordpad. I asked the ladies to give me some differences between the two and they right away noticed them so once they saw the differences we began exploring wordpad. We had a great time using wordpad because the ladies played around with the font and the different tools wordpad provides. Before they actually started palying around I guided them through each font tool and other tools so they would know what they were for and so then I let them play around. They were all excited, specially one lady because she said she can now help her daughter with her science fair project decoration since now she knows how to play around with the font and colors. we stayed till 11:30 am. since we are actually at a neighborhood park we can only stay till 11am but the park manager doesnt mind if we stay a little over. This upcoming Saturday we are going to be looking at microsoft word and looking at the differences between notepad, wordpad, and word. I will actually assign their first assignment which will be due march 16, 2013. I am very excited to see their work and see them use what they have learned . I truly am happy for giving this class. These ladies are learning a lot and I am having fun teaching them. One lady,because of this class actually bought her kids their first computer and now is excited that she is learning how to use it. I have helped her create each one of her kids (3 of them )their own user account and putting parental control. I created the first user account and she did the other two. : ) Excited for the next class.

Jessica

Second day of computing class

jherreraluc — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:06:11 -0600

we had a great time this time no a lot of the ladies showed up because they had prior arrangements but the ones that missed will be attending the next class. by the time 11 am came the ladies were still not ready to leave and we got so caught up by what we were doing that we stayed till 11:30am. I am very excited about the next class because we will be starting to work with word and they have all been using their computers and learning what they have but now they will actually be creating something. Also I want to mention why we got so caught up the ladies were so excited to learn how to create their own user accounts and passwords as well add and delete programs and how to have a screensaver. they all really got into all of these things that it even got me excited to help them out.looking forward this upcoming Saturday.

Jessica

First day of Computer Class

jherreraluc — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 11:53:12 -0600

This past saturday I had a great time at the first day of intro to Computer class. Most of the ladies did not even know how to turn on the computer which i was very surprised (all of these women are hispanic and typically house wifes). I had a written agenda for the class but they where all so excited about learning that they kept asking questions and I found myself trying to get back on track and the best part was that the questions never seemed to end. one of the best parts was that by the end of the class the ladies left very excited and ready for the next class, we also decided that I was going to teach them how to pay their bills online. I know how conbinient it it to pay bills online so I asked the ladies if that would be one the things they would like to get out of the class and they all responded yes. They loved that idea and were very thankful for having to add that to the class. but i told them that before we get to that they have to know the basics and theres a process they have to go through in order to do that so we will be doing that by the end of the 8 week course. they all agreed and I told them that once we start on the bills they can bring with them their bills and a small notebook where they can write their usernames ad passwords. So we began the class and had a great time. So now im very excited for the next class which will be this upcoming Saturday.

Steinmetz HTML Class Assistance, Semester 2

jnepomuceno — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:10:51 -0600

Today I returned to Steinmetz to help out with HTML classes there. Both the teacher and the students in general (in the periods I’m there) seemed very glad to have me back. The curriculum from the last semester was finishing up, and the students were turning in design templates for personal web sites. These sites will eventually be fully created at the end of this semester using all the students have learned over the course of the year.

For better or worse, the second semester is beginning with review, literally from the beginning (the concept of viewing/modifying raw HTML pages in NotePad). The class is taking on several new students seeking to fulfill credits necessary to graduate, and so stepping back will attempt to bring everyone up to speed. For my part, I’m hoping this encourages the proficient students to go and try (HTML) things on their own - it’s not explicitly my role in the classroom, but I’d hate for the subject to get boring for them.

I also was tasked to help a few students out completing several online modules that were required curriculum in the state of Illinois. They covered a general span of topics, from the concept of financial credit to responsible actions. Having actually not encountered them back in high school, I found them very analogous to training programs I was required to complete while at other jobs. Here was a sort of education delivered in the form of training videos and quizzes whose nature was not necessarily to derive a logical answer to, but to reiterate exactly what the videos had said. I personally thought the modules (in structure and in particular wording) to be condescending to the students - nevertheless, the students passed most of them.

Although perhaps outside the scope of what we do through STARS, such an education method seems such a contrast to the methods otherwise employed, both in this class and in other STEM classes, where both the material and the nature of evaluation suggest there is more to do with the subject than just spitting something out in response.

That’s easier, certainly, but then we may as well be computers.

In Which The Ring is Cast Into Mount Doom

lp0-on-fire — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 23:02:49 -0600

Last Friday (12/7) marked my last day at St. Viator Elementary. Overall it was a bittersweet day; while I’m happy that the project reached its natural conclusion, I think I might actually miss my students, despite all the grief they gave me.

It was a relatively quiet day. I had the third and sixth graders wrap up their Scratch projects and submit them as is. My supervisor wants to learn more about Scratch so at some point I’ll send him my lectures to hopefully cut down on his research time.

The iPads for the kindergartners had some new games on them that dealt primarily with spelling, which they really enjoyed. I think though they only really liked it though because every three words they got to pick a part of a rocket ship and then put it together and make it fly.

Even if the students only liked me because I broke the monotony, I’m glad I was able to make a project of this magnitude come together, despite the bumps along the way.

Ending transmission for the last time,

Alexandra Nine

The Workshop and The End

guscheco — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 16:02:00 -0600

11/17/2012

The workshop was here! Everyone worked hard in order to get everything prepared for the event and we were about to have close to 40 middle school students coming by. I arrived around 1:15pm to everyone getting things ready for imminent arrival of the students.

I began to help by setting up the many tables of the stations for the kids to work on. Everyone was contributing in some way for the set up. Mr. Solin, Abril, and Safia were in charge of the event. We were setting up large sheets of paper for a field in order for the kids to maneuver through a maze.

We had all the robots built from the day before and were going to work with the students to show how to program a robot to move and use its many sensors.

As soon as we were finishing up setting up the stations with robots and computers, Parents and students started to arrive.

We were almost ready as people started coming in. We saw that we needed chairs for the parents so I went out and started getting chair carts from the hallway.

Alas we were ready for our workshop.

Mr. Solin was the first to speak to the students of what we were going to do. We were going to have them work with one of the Robotics students in groups of 3 or less. We were going to teach them how to program the robot to move and help them learn how to make more complex movements. He talked a little about the competition the team was in and demonstration the movement of the robot.

The girls really took over the workshop once Mr. Solin was finished with his talk. All the students got assigned a station and began to work on the robot. Everyone soon began making the robot move.

I was going around making sure that everyone’s station was working properly and to see if anyone needed help.

We soon setup a projector in order to show how to setup the program.

Everything was going very well and since the parents were just sitting around I thought that they would enjoy driving the team’s robot. A few of the parents drove it around and were really engaged.

All the teams began to make use of the sensors available and the students were really interested in making the robots move around.

Today was a very successful day overall. Everyone was having a good time and everything went well. Everyone did an incredible job.

- Gus

12/5

While officially today would be my last day, I had informed Mr. Solin that I would be around in the future when I could to help out. We spent the day cleaning out the mech room in order to prepare for the next competition. We cleaned the playing field, the floors, and organized all of our tools and screws. Everyone helped out and it was just a uneventful day of preparation.

In Which I Take Heart, Land is Within My Sights

lp0-on-fire — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 08:16:00 -0600

I can’t believe this semester is pretty much over, but at the same time it’s fine by me because I’m finally at that point where everything’s hilarious anyway.

This week (12/7) will be my last visit to St. Viator’s to make sure my students’ projects are completed to my satisfaction and then turned in to computer teacher. The end is so close at hand, I can almost taste it.

Last week (11/30), I suddenly encountered 9,032,745 roadblocks. Well I certainly exaggerate, but it did feel like that everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong for both the 3rd and 6th grade classes. There were technical issues with the school network, so some students’ files were gone completely, amd they basically had to start from scratch because there really wasn’t any hope of recovery. Other students just couldn’t remember what they had named their files, so they needed to be found manually. I had thought at this point mostly everyone would have some semblance of a story completed, but it didn’t really turn out that way, so I ended up sitting down with the teacher before class started and nailing out some Scratch commands I definitely wanted to see met:

Movement
Talking/Dialogue
A background other than blank white
Minimum of two characters
Minimum of one sound effect

I figured those five things pretty much covered everything I’ve tried to teach them the last two weeks. This week is the last chance they’ll have to wrap up what they have and submit it. After some thought, I also decided to nix having the students present their projects. They’ve pretty much demonstrated to me that they don’t work well as a class, and that their time would be better spent finishing what they have and just turning it in.

The kindergartners were fortunately a little easier to handle. At some point before the holiday break the teacher found a few new educational apps centered around spelling and some basic mathematical operations, like addition and subtraction, and the students were definitely more excited to work on the iPads that week than they’ve been in the previous weeks.

Overall, I think I’m happy that this is my last week. This project is winding down to its natural demise, and I’ve done everything I can possibly do and then some for this Scratch project, and I can’t really ask anymore of myself no matter the outcome.

Ending transmission,

Alexandra Nine

The Set Up

guscheco — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 15:40:08 -0600

11/16/2012

Today was a very fun day. We had to set up for Saturday’s Robotics Workshop. Around 40 kids for grades 6-8 were coming to Northside to work with our robotics in order to learn about Computer Programming and Robotics. Everything was being organized and run by the Robotics Teams/Colloquium Class. What we had to do was assemble about 20 robots for the kids to use on Saturday.

We are using the Lego Mindstorms and got about 20 kits ready to assemble. We spent about an hour assembling them. We each did about 2 robots. It was find to play with Legos again as I haven’t used them in a long time. The first robot car was fun to assemble but as I got to doing the second assembly that feeling seemed to go away. =D I helped some of the other students as some of the pieces were misused due to their similar shape.

We finished the robots and began to take apart our demo field in order to move them to the gym. A simple day of preparing for the workshop tomorrow. Many of the students were excited and anxious for Saturday.

The Clean Up

guscheco — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 14:19:35 -0600

11/14/2012

Today was a cleanup day. After scrambling to get our robot working and taking it to a friends’ house to finish, we have parts everywhere that needed to be organized and a mech room that was a mess. It was a relatively quiet day as the competition had passed and while we did OK, the feeling of wanting more was in the air. We cleaned and moved stuff around for about an hour. No one in a particular kind of rush to get things done.

I was only until about 445 and after a few people had gone home early that I wanted to try to drive the girl’s robot. So after the girls fixed the strings so that the lift would work, I began to drive the robot. Immediately I saw the limits and faults of the driving. Having to manually stop after every command was a pain.

Eric saw this and took a look at the code. After a little bit of tweaking, we were off and running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xScRPsUSbY

Everyone was so happy that it was working. I later shared the video in an email thread and everyone was ecstatic. The girls robot worked and it worked rather well. Even though the girls didn’t do as well in the competition, they built a really good robot. They should be proud of that.

- Gus

Mentoring at Hamdard

krusniak — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:17:36 -0600

The kids had fun this week working on a Scratch version of Mad Libs that I found posted in the ScratchEd resources. While I like to create the projects myself some weeks, it’s interesting to see what other educators create/post other weeks when I don’t have time to make a new project and the accompanying handouts. There are a lot of really fun and practical materials on ScratchEd that I would not have thought of and that use the operations we talk about in slightly different and creative ways. After creating the basic module, the kids experimented with different question/answer combinations and characters/backgrounds to enhance the stories. As usual, they’re most excited about the 15min free-time they get at the end of our evening sessions, but I have to say I’m impressed that they still are so enthusiastic and personable at 5:30pm after long days already filled with school and homework. My one concern right now is that the females at the start of class seem to go missing after the first several classes. It happened this summer too. I’m not sure if they lose interest or get busy with something else. And there’s only 1-2 at a time anyway, so it’s not much to start. In any case, I’ve been leaving behind handouts for other kids at Hamdard to use if interested and they always disappear. So I hope a few of the many girls I see around the center are finding these. I was thinking to also try some new tactics for increasing interest for girls and all the children by leaving other informative handouts and trying other kids programming systems like Alice, Mozilla Thimble, etc. Seems a lot of the kids are being introduced to Scratch in school, so maybe some kids are just leaving the workshop because they don’t feel like they’re learning anything new.

In Which I Rope Souls And See The End Is Nigh

lp0-on-fire — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 22:46:00 -0600

Now that the holiday has passed I have some time to pick up where I left off with these posts. Thankfully I’m not as far behind as I thought I was, due to the fact that computer classes were cancelled and the kindergartners had a project to do on November 16th, so my presence was not needed.

On November 7th I went with two other classmates to help Dr. Greenberg rope some souls into computer science at a career fair at West Leyden High School. The two gentlemen I came with went out on the floor to preach to the masses, whereas I stayed back by the booth itself, which worked out beautifully because I’m not terribly outgoing around strangers. I had some interesting conversations with the students. Many of them were interested in getting into computer science, but didn’t really know what exactly they wanted to do with computer science. After asking a few basic questions on what they liked to do with/on a computer and/or other electronic devices, the best I could offer was the kinds of experiences I’ve had with the C.S. major here at Loyola, or give them ideas about the kinds of careers they might like to pursue based on their interests. I remember one girl already had taken some classes with networking, so she and I had a lengthy discussion about classes pertaining to networking and security. At the end of the day we actually ended up giving out every single handout, which was a pleasant surprise.

The Friday of that same week (11/9) I was back at St. Viator’s with my students. The 6th graders are moving along at a good pace with their Scratch projects. A few more have finished theirs, or at least they think they have. In the end I have the final say-so over what’s done and what isn’t. The 3rd graders are making progress as well, though not at the pace I expected. Perhaps I aimed too high with my expectations for them. What I may do then is just have them do a scene or two from their short story instead of the whole story, depending on how the next session goes. The kindergartners continued their work with the alphabet and double digit numbers on the iPads, though I think many of them are getting bored with the same four apps. The teacher asked me to find some new, free, educational apps, though the iTunes store has thousands and thousands to sort through and so far only a few might be acceptable. I will hopefully make more progress on that next week when classes resume for everyone.

Ending transmission,

Alexandra Nine

The Competition

guscheco — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:56:00 -0600

11/10/2012 Updated 11/30

Northside College Prep Robotics

The competition came really quickly and both teams spent the night together at a friend’s house in order to complete and make any final changes to the robot. Of course, that resulted in many of the students tired and falling asleep at the competition which began registration at 730am. =)

Both teams were able to complete their working robot before the competition. Needed parts finally arrived as many parts of completing the robot were contingent on these parts arriving.

Everyone arrived on time at 730am at Whitney Young High School. The competition was being held in the PE building. Each team had its own table and section in order to get started. Hardware and software inspections of the robot was also done at this time.

There was a scramble from all the teams to get everything right and fix up their robots. Our team was here for a while so our only major problem was that we were missing a few key parts like batteries. We found out that one of our teams forgot one of the boxes at Kerry’s home. With the whole team working through the night and exhausted by the time the competition came along, its understandable So I drove Kerry and Andrew to pick them up.

Drive was relatively quick and the parts were right where we thought and we started heading back.

Opening Ceremonies got underway and we were ready to start. Professor Solin, Pat , and myself were the coaches and one of us had to stand in at every match.

Unfortunately we were marred with technical difficulties on our beginning matches due to connection issues on the left most playing field. Eventually when the refs began to realize there was a problem we ended up playing our matches on the right field.

We didn’t really have a testing phase for the robot so needless to say there was a slight learning curve in figuring out how to control both of our robots. The girls team had an issue with stopping manually after every command while the boys team had to be as accurate as possible to be effective.

Eventually though we had some good matches.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuThSQ257Sw

(Kapil, Gus(me), Eric, Kerry, Alvin)

Proud of our team for working hard and getting a much needed win!

As we headed into the final matches we ran out of battery on one match so we couldn’t participate. We ended up getting around 13th place but unable to continue.

The day was not over as awards were being distributed. Turns out that both the girls team and boys team won awards for their work on their robots! The girls team won for their spirit and work on their code while the boys won for their foam claw design on their robot!

All in all, it was a good day for us but we wish we would have planned better for testing and continued on to state.

- Gus

The Learning Process

guscheco — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:17:00 -0600

11/07/2012

Northside College Prep Robotics Team

Everyone was really nice to begin with. They showed me all their designs and implementation that it was really easy to understand and begin to help them on how exactly their robot was going to work. I was able to work with the guys much easier than the girls as their implementation for the claw and lift was different. I needed to see it on completion but there was still work to be done. I went over code of both the girls team and guys team. Each had done a lot of work and was very neat. I was mostly supervising this day as Mr. Solin had a couple of tasks he had to take care of.

When he came back, the guys team needed to drill holes on some steel pipes that would make up the scissor lift they were trying to implement. We left for the Engineer’s work station as that’s were the heavy machinery was. I worked with Alvin, Kerry, and the other mentor Pat in figuring out a plan to drill the holes so they would all match up. We lined up a pipe that would become a base so that once we drilled holes through it we could use it on the remaining ones. Kerry and I spent about an hour drilling holes and at the end all were in good shape. The Boys team was set to make their lift.

Fall @Hamdard Wk8

krusniak — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:27:58 -0600

The weeks are going by much too fast! We’ve gotten a lot of work done in the last few weeks however. The kids have been using Scratch to send messages back and forth from one block of code (sprite) to another, create variables to add simple numbers, and create ‘text sprites’ to use text in a new way - for drawing.

Here are the project files and programs for message and variable workshops: http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/messages-and-variables

The kids had fun sending messages and I think they understand the underlying function of telling different parts of the program to do different things. The same goes for the work with variables. They like to follow the directions in the guides and put together a simple working math project. But in both cases the attention span for this work is quite limited. They’re very eager to ‘get in done’ so they can explore scratch for their own purposes and do things that are ‘more fun’. So my challenge is to try to find a fun-factor in these workshop activities and 1) hold their attention for at least 30min (after which they get their desired free-time) and 2) relate these activities to things they are really interested in… like video games. I’ve also suggested that these activities are the foundations of problem solving that is involved in many adult/professional activities (they are sometimes interested in talking about jobs) and another way of competing with friends (everything is a competition with these bright and mostly male kids).

In our last workshop we used the program ‘Playing With Text’ posted on ScratchEd by Jane Long in which words are used in a drawing. I tried to emphasize including words for communication of some information about each of them, which they weren’t really interested in. But they did add characters or funny words they liked and modified the code so that interested things happened besides just drawing multicolored lines within the project window. So I would say the activity was still moderately successful.

http://scratched.media.mit.edu/resources/playing-text

Career Fair at West Leyden High School, 11/7

jnepomuceno — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 14:49:24 -0600

People ask a question, “What’s computer science?” And I tell ‘em, it’s not about sitting in a basement working on some obscure code. Oh no. There’s a lot more than that, my friend. We all like a bit of the good life: some the money, some the expertise, others the sense of accomplishment, the glamour, or the fame. But a computer scientist - oh, he’s different. Why? Because a real computer scientist wants (and can get) the whole lot.

This is a riff on the intro to a Guy Ritchie film, but if there was one way to tell people about the potential of a computing education anywhere (in college or out), it ought to go something like that. If you had asked me four years ago what my dreams were, you would have gotten a vague pie in the sky estimate about writing a novel to change the world, all that jazz. Such were the green(er) days of high school, and sadly, days when I (and many others, even up to the present) was not exposed enough to things that both were interesting to me and good to concretely plan around (to give a context, my favorite films of the time included Guy Ritchie’s RocknRolla and Public Enemies).

Four years ago, there was no plan. Now, somewhat wiser, I wish somebody had sold me the field like I just did. The world offers no easy solutions, and a desire without a plan does not a solution make. Knowing what I know now, though, would have helped me a lot four years ago.

This was my impetus to help out at the career fair at West Leyden High School in Northlake: my professor Dr. Greenberg was managing a booth there for Loyola/Illinois Computes, and I and three other student volunteers came along to help out. To the best of our abilities, we represented Loyola and the CS field at large. I worked on the other side of the booth on the fair floor, giving a short sell on what CS could mean to students and to the world before giving info handouts and directing them to the booth.

Observations:
- one can only talk to one group at a time, and still only address directly one person in that group (but one can still hand out the sheet to each person)
- there would be the hard sell: i.e., the person who “barely knows how to turn a computer on,” or the mechanic - what we’re here to do is show computer science’s influence on their chosen fields and the world at large (one can simply mention Twitter or Facebook)
- One can never have too many handouts

Pam African Association

i-am-the-beagle — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:00:42 -0600

I am bit a late for these repsones on Tunblr, but the experience Ive had helping underprivileged people has altered the way I see immigrants and people from different backgrounds. Lately, I’ve been teaching basic computer skills to refugees from African and the Middle East. It is pretty challenging to communicate ideas to immigrants who have had very little experience with both computers and English. Explaining different aspects of the internet has been the most challenging part.

While working at the Pan African Society I have also noticed how women are reluctant to take a leading role when it coimes to technology. It seems as though their previous cultural steretotypes continue even after moving to a new country. Not all of the refuggees are like that though. The majority of them are eager to learn about computers and how they can improve there day to day life. The women even acheive more then the men on occasionally, which isn’t very normal for computer related topics. It seemed like the students unerstood me more if I was able to put an assignment’s objectives into some more practical a and tangible. That way the students could seehow computers could improve their day to day lives. It also reinefirced the idea that computers are powerful tools that will allow yourself to achieve more in life.

Overall my experience has been great and I am looking forward to learning more about immigrant cultures and the way they perceive technology. Working at the Pan African Association and seeing the students learn about computers and how they can improve their lives has reinforced my confidence in the United States persevering as the the world’s tech hub.

Much Ado About Lego

zachary-bruno — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 00:49:37 -0600

So now that I’ve gone a good number of times, I feel ready to unleash a big blog post explaining what I’ve been doing all semester. Every Monday/Thursday from 2:30-5 since the first of October I’ve been going to West Ridge Elementary School to be the assistant coach of their First Lego League robotics club.

It’s a lot of fun. There are roughly 14 kids who show up regularly, and a few who come every now and again. A good mix of ethnic groups and gender, ranging from Caucasian, African American, Indian, Asian, and Hispanic boys and girls. The major of them are 6th - 8th graders, with a few 3rd and 4th graders sprinkled in.

We use the Lego Mindstorms product to teach the kids some basic programming principles in the NXT environment, and prepare them for the tournament in December. Along with the technical aspect of it, there is also a senior outreach part where they learn how to apply technology to the improvement of the lives of senior citizens. They will have to give a presentation on their ideas to a panel during the robotics tournament.

So far we have covered the basics of what the robot can do, and are now applying more complex strategies to tackle some of the missions for the tournament. The kids are having a blast with it, and one boy in particular has taken to learning Java and emailing me his work to take a look at it. They have a real drive to learn this stuff and it is a ton of fun to work with all of them. Once we get the senior citizen part settled (who wants to do research and presentations when we can play with Lego?), we should be ready to get all finalized for the tournament.

NSCP Robotics Team

guscheco — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 20:21:17 -0600

10/31/2012 Gus Pacheco

I arrived at Northside College Preparatory eager to see my former school and teacher. It was here that I began to see how much Computer Science interested me. It was here that I learned about my future.

It was Halloween and many students were dressed up. My old teacher Mr. Solin was dressed up as well but if you didn’t know him you probably wouldn’t be able to tell. He was dressed in nice professional looking clothes. A contrast to his personality and the kind of guy he is. He said “Today, I am irony.”

He took me to a part of Northside that I haven’t been to during my 4 years there. It was the mechanical room where they held their colloquium (a weekly 3 hour class devoted to a special interest).

I met the 2 teams that were building the robots; a girls team and a boys team. Each was composed of many students from different grade level. The seniors were the experienced bunch as many of them had taken the class before and competed as well.

Each has a similar robotic base to move the robot and to place all the needed sensors and communication devices. From the looks of it everything was completed from scratch and assembled by the students alone. Very resourceful. I really applaud the hands on approach with guidance available if needed.

The object of the competition is to build a robot that will be able to move around, pick up small donut rings, and place them on poles in the center of the playing field.

I spend time with each team going over their design and their plans. The girls team opted for a wire/fishing line metal lift while the boys decided to go with a scissor lift.

I was impressive with the complexity of the robots and the work and time put in in order to make them work. During my Robotics class at Loyola, I was fortunate to work only on the software side of things with a fully working NAO Robot. It is refreshing to see the entire hardware and software process.

I offered advice on what I could and assisted with some mechanical engineering work. The Boys team needed to shave down certain metal parts/hinges in order to connect certain devices onto the robot. It is very difficult to build a frame and plan on where things will go or how they will be attached.

Most of the activities involved the hardware as the teams focused on getting the build right while few others worked on the code for the robot’s control mechanism.

I really liked how different each teams’ design was compared to one another. A different path to the same outcome.

I mostly helped the boys team as their work required supervision and assistance They need to cut metal parts in half and grind down certain hinges and L parts in order to best fit their robot.

I had a great first day meeting everyone and getting familiar with their design.