Wilton's Connecticut Friends School Announces New Robotics Programs

The following is a release sent by Connecticut Friends School--

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Connecticut Friends School is excited to announce the addition of new programs recently added to our middle school curriculum.

Connecticut Friends School middle school students are piloting our new Robotics program. Our Robotics program introduces children to programming protocols while incorporating interdisciplinary skills using 21st century technology. The Robotics program integrates core academics including math, English, science and technology,compelling students to think critically and creatively, to work through scaffolded lessons and, ultimately, open-ended challenges. It is an excellent way for students to practice their problem solving skills in a collaborative structure where there are no easy solutions to the challenges they face.

The program is based on a LEGO Mindstorms curriculum developed by Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Academy. So far, the students have learned programming techniques with a graphical interface and how to upload their programs to the robot “brick,” – the “brain” to which various and motors and sensors are attached.

The students have become quick studies with this new technology. They also learned that collaboration between robotics groups supports the most efficient spread of ideas and solutions to challenges as they arse.

Our 5th and 6th grade students have started their work on a new Animation course based on a curriculum developed at the Jacob Burns Film Center and Media Arts Lab. The foundation of the program builds key story-writing skills weeks before the students begin to learn the nomenclature and grammar of film. “Production companies” of two to three students develop ideas for stories and share their ideas with peer groups. Based on feedback from these focus groups, each company of students picks and idea to develop into a script. From the script each group develops a shot by shot storyboard and then creates the artwork that will help them tell their stories. They then begin to explore how to animate their artwork, shooting their film on iPads with the iStopMotion app and

then editing their workin post-production with iMovie software. Our new animation program incorporates artistic skill, technology, language arts, and math. It is designed to pique the interest of our young storytellers to develop their creativity, to be producers in a medium that is all pervasive but that most of us simply “consume.”

We see how these new programs we are piloting have inspired our students and helped them to reinforce core reading, writing, and arithmetic skills in a most relevant and engaging context. These new programs support our hands-on, minds on, hearts on approach to classroom learning. It is through striking the imagination of the students that we expect to build not only the skills students need for their future success but to foster a positive disposition and can-do orientation to real and challenging work.

Connecticut Friends School is a preschool – Grade 8 fully accredited school that combines outstanding academics, arts and outdoor leadership programs, including

the values of integrity, peaceful problem solving, simplicity, and mutual respect. At CFS, we want our students to be successful – happy, well adjusted, passionate, inquisitive, capable, intelligent, able to think and question, and able to excel in our society and world. We want them to be intrinsically motivated, fully engaged and excited by what they’re learning. We want our students to have a sense that knowledge is accessible, to understand who they are as learners, and for their learning to be life-long. The foundation of our rigorous academic program rests on students’ authentic engagement in the work at hand.

Learn more about Connecticut Friends School by visiting us at www.CTFriendsSchool.org or call 203-762-9860.

Photo credit: Connecticut Friends School