DPS 109 Students Set Record in Groundbreaking Robot Unit

DEERFIELD, IL — For the first time ever, there’s a Virtual Robotics Champion at Wilmot Elementary School.

“The Beasts” team, made up of fifth-graders Noah and Justin, scored a record-breaking 180 points in the Virtual Robotics Simulator Unit designed by local high schoolers to claim the first ever title in district history, according to Deerfield District 109.

“It was hard, there were a lot of challenges and times when things didn’t work, but it was a lot of
fun,” Justin said.

The district said the championship showdown capped a months-long coding unit for all the Wilmot fifth-graders in their STEAM classes. They worked alongside local high school robotics team "Rust In Piece," who developed the curriculum.

The high school team was determined to find a way to engage students in robotics just as they would a physical sport. To accomplish this, "Rust In Piece" created a fifth grade coding curriculum using the Virtual Robot Simulator. The team recorded a series of video lessons. Each lesson guided students through new programming skills that the students applied to their own virtual robot. Additionally, students practiced journaling skills in their own Engineering Notebooks. The virtual robotics unit ended with the class and school elimination tournament, mimicking the high school level FIRST robotics tournaments.

“We had to write down what we did, how we improved this week or this day,” said Justin. “We
also had to make a video about the VRS and the cool things it has,” Noah said.

The fifth-graders completed a virtual version of the FIRST Tech Challenge game assigned to
high school teams, where actual robots had to maneuver around a course and move, pick up,
and even throw different objects, according to the district. "Rust In Piece" came in first place at the Illinois State Tournament in March. They are headed to Houston to compete in the first International World Robotics Championship at the end of the month.

“Robotics is called the sport of the mind. We felt it was important to introduce young students to
critical thinking and problem-solving that can be so engaging in robotics. We wanted them to
look forward to robotics just like they would soccer, basketball or dance,” said Jacob Hoyt,
co-captain of the "Rust In Piece" team.

Getting an opportunity to work with high school students provided extra inspiration for the
younger students, who normally wouldn’t be exposed to an activity like this until at least middle
school. Following on the success of the program at Wilmot, Walden and South Park will begin
the coding unit in their schools. DPS 109 plans to offer the VRS curriculum to 5th graders at all
four Deerfield elementary schools next year. Justin and Noah shared advice for future students
taking on this new challenge.

“If you get stuck on something, look back on what you can improve on. It’s not always going to
go as well as you want it to,” Noah said.

“It can be frustrating, but you just have to find some
way to debug it, and then when you find that solution it feels really good,” Justin said.

The Rust in Piece coding unit will be taught in Chicago Public Schools next year. Rust in Piece’s
goal is to bring their free coding unit to all lower income school districts across the country.