Robotics and Programming Workshops to Stimulate Children's Interest in STEM

IMPACT. 1: Dr. Radin has partnered with community organizations to provide facilities, advertising, registration, and funding so that workshops can be provided without cost to teams. -- 2. Dr. Radin's team has taught these workshops for 4 years, reaching over 1500 elementary and middle school children and their adult mentors. Participants come from Ohio as well as neighboring states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Kentucky.OSU PARTNERS: College of Veterinary Medicine; Department of Veterinary BiosciencesCOMMUNITY PARTNERS: Starbase - Wright Patterson Air Force Base Outreach; iSpace Cincinnati; Rockwell AutomationPRIMARY CONTACT: M. Judith Radin (radin.1@osu.edu)FIRST is an organization that promotes robotics competitions to stimulate children's interest in math and science. Many teams competing in this program are based in elementary and middle schools and available teachers/ mentors often have very limited programming experience, which can result in frustration for both students and mentors. As one of the coaches of a successful robotics team, Dr. Radin helped design an 8-hour interactive programming workshop for elementary and middle school students and mentors