Gianna SHELLY may be only a fourth grade, but she has already learned to fly a drone.
“They are neat, but sometimes dangerous,” she said.
She knows she: Sherry Abraham, the fourth grade father, is an engineer and she says she works on an airplane, and she piloted a drone around the elementary classroom at Florida Institute of Technology. I said to. In a class led by Bernard Brian, the chairman of the South Brevard NAACP, Jeanna, who has learned about the aircraft of this grade and volunteers as a support teacher, is the principle of flights such as lift, drag, weight, and thrusts. You can understand better. What her father is talking about his job.
Jeanna is one of about 45 students from elementary school to high school, participating in the Saturday class hosted by Brian, and shows what she learned in the showcase on February 9. This program, which was held at Florida Institute of Technology, covers drone aerial, robot engineering, snap -circuits, and Python coding. It has been ongoing for about 8 years.
Goal: Otherwise, we will introduce science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to children who may not have the opportunity to learn these topics.
“My father is always talking about it,” said Jeanna. He mentioned how airplanes and drones fly. “I can finally catch up with him.”
How to start the program
Brian has been involved in the school system for many years by working with the late ASSPIRATION ACADEMY Bob Barns, a program aiming to enhance the learning opportunity for low -income children in Brevard. Ta. What he noticed was a shortage of black students in the STEM program.
“You haven’t seen these children. I don’t see the alienated children have this opportunity,” said Brian. “So we will do this.”
His wife, Therma Brian, is a part of NAACP, and is a focus on giving high school students the opportunity to show their skills in the fields of visual art, acting and business. I work with the children through -so. This program is perfect for older children, but does not provide opportunities for young students to learn.
Brian, with the 36-year engineering background of the Collins Aerospace, brought another program to ACT-SO and had the opportunity to include young students. With the support of local engineing companies such as Collins Aerospace, L3 Harris, and Northrop Grumman, he has created a class taught by volunteer engineers for children of all ages.
The STEM program confirms that there are few participation from the alienated students.
The STEM class is provided by all public elementary schools in Brevard, and there are many extracurricular STEM programs that students can participate in, but blacks or low -income students participate in these programs at low rates. Is not unusual.
In the US report after 3:00 pm published in 2021, the opportunity to study STEM in post -school programs has increased since the past few years, but family can access these programs equally based on income. I found out that it was not. The types of STEM education were different based on the income situation and the frequency of the child who could participate in the after -school program. Parents quoted issues such as too high programs. There is a shortage of programs that can be used as a reason why there is no transport and the child is not registered in the post -school STEM program.
In a 2022 survey by Pew Research, 44 % of the black high school graduates in the survey felt that someone was excited about STEM’s abilities, but many people could not understand the subject or belong to STEM. I remembered that it was treated like. class.
According to the same study, more than 50 % of black adults have stated that they lack good education and access to mentors as a contribution to young people from pursuing STEM degree.
Brian said that high school students in the alienated group had tended to lack STEM for external stressers.
“When you reach the high school level … especially alienated communities, many of our children are trying to support their parents, they are working,” said Brian.
The goal of him and other volunteers is to let these children introduce STEM early in their lives, hoping that they will be interested through their severe high school days.
“If they were at least early in their lives, they would probably not happen 10 or eight years,” he said.
Their effort was rewarded: some of their students go to Besoon Cookman University, Florida A & M, and Southern Florida University.
Preparation of showcase
A few weeks after the showcase, the sixth grade ARIA BUJDOSO was working on a class presentation plan. She explained the purpose of the robot and the explanation of the program, and entered a document that layout information about the robot to be presented.
Her class announces the program “Billy” programmed to draw a basic shape.
“I do all the technical types,” she said.
Billy does not make art. Theoretically, it can be used for more practical purposes. Robots are programmed so that if programming is applied to a larger robot, you can put a line on the street, a playground, and the same turf.
COLLINS AEROSPACE engineers and Robotics class teachers, CHRIS HELBIG, will be the basis for more detailed learning by teaching children this kind of programming. He was a volunteer teacher for about six years.
“The base robot has already been built, but they have to do everything else to (program),” he said. “They have to move two motors. They have to tell how much time they move, the power to give them, and in which direction they are in. “
In Brian’s class, children in elementary school practiced flying dots. In other cases, high school students worked on Python coding. In one -third, young students learned about circuits through demonstrations, such as sucking enough power to send enough power via pencils.
In the afternoon showcase held at Stone Magnet Middle School, the project is scored by local engineers. All students will be awarded the money award.
Some of these children are not used to the program. But others have been there for years. Helbig said it was part of the excitement of the showcase.
“It’s a great thing when the children come from the lower program, then pass me, and we demonstrate me … I can see some of the children who came through my program. Many things have grown, “he said.
Brian showed a small Styrofoam airplane in his class. When he came back and forth and moved to the left and right, the student shouted what he was showing: “Lift!” “Drag!” “” “” Slast! “
Brian said that these classes were preparing to succeed in other fields, even if they did not pursue their careers in STEM.
“What is the (experience) team, how to organize the project, the factors when conducting scientific projects, and how to analyze them,” he said.
“I wish I had some of these programs at that age.”
Finchwalker is a Florida educational reporter today. Please contact FWALKER@floridatoday.com Walker. X: @_finchwalker.
