Past projects 2
Innovators and Inventors in a Historically Underserved Community
Funded Dec 23, 2018I appologize for the delay. The students that initially used the Arduinos are now off to High School and doing all sorts of amazing things. I have a new group of young people that are just starting to utilize this wonderful resource and I hope it will impact many groups of students to come. Arduinos teach circuitry, coding, and innovation while engaging the student's creative side as well. I have found the students like the challenge that the Arduinos give them and the freedom to create. I continually find that students that tend to struggle in other classes, thrive when give the opportunity to build, make, and create.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Tharp
This classroom project was brought to life by Verizon and 11 other donors.Robotics for Everyone
Funded Oct 13, 2016I started this year in a brand new position, teaching 6 grade levels that I had never taught before. I have tried to build a STEAM program from the ground up by teaching our students the basics of the engineering design process and coding, while giving them a taste of what their futures may look like. I have had many successes and many failures and will have many more before my time here is done.
Ozobots are an amazing resource to teach even the youngest of our students the foundations of coding and robotics. Before some of them can even read, they are learning how to control robots and code solutions to problems. The best part of these little robots is that they grow with the students. We have only just started using paper and pens to color code our bots. The next level is using one of four apps in conjunction with the Ozobots to solve more problems and take our coding up a notch. The final step is using OzoBlocky (a block based coding language) to teach our students a versatile type of coding that can be used in other areas.
My students love them. The main reason that I do what I do, is to inspire the next generation of inventors and engineers and to make sure that the future is created by as diverse a group of young people as possible. Ozobots let my students dream big, and I want to make sure that they continue to do so.”
With gratitude,
Mr. Tharp