Ajabu Africa News

By:

Harrison Maina

Posted:

Jul,19-2015 00:16:29

BOSTON---Middle school students from the African immigrant community in Boston now have a chance to join other students in the region for an amazing opportunity of a lifetime in a 5 week Summer Robotics program that will culminate in a live competition aboard the real International Space Station (ISS).

Known as the SPHERES Zero Robotics Competition, the learning opportunity is conducted by the Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership (MAP) in conjunction with world renowned Rocket science developers, among them the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Northrop Grumman Foundation and Aurora Flight Sciences.

It is an innovative and inspiring summer learning opportunity for middle school students (10 to 14 years) where program educators will teach about computer programming, coding, robotics and space engineering.

Students will also gain hands-on experience working with and programming SPHERES (Synchronized, Position, Hold, Engage, Reorient, and Experiment Satellites).

The program connects students with prominent scientists and encourages them to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and or math.

It will be conducted by invitation only from July to mid August in selected centers in Massachusetts and several other selected states including Alabama, California, Colorado, D.C. Metro/ Maryland, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Ohio, Oregon, SEMAA, Texas, and West Virginia.

A field day for competing teams is planned take place at MIT in Boston where competitors will meet and tour the Space Systems Laboratory.

And in a breakthrough for the African community children, Read with Us, a day care provider run by a Kenyan immigrant in Dracut has been selected as one of the centers to host this year's Zero Robotics program that brings the REAL rocket science literally to our door step.

"I am so humbled to have been selected as one of the few centers chosen to host this awesome summer program. It will be a great opportunity for our kids to experience and engage in such a high technology program provided by well known science and technology developers,” said Karen Ngugi, director and proprietor of Read With Us during an interview with Ajabu Africa News.

Karen said that the Robotics training program is totally free of charge for interested students. However, students are only required to pay the usual summer program fee of $100 a week.

"We are trying to provide our children with a different kind of a learning opportunity during their usual summer vacation. This is a unique summer program from the rest where parents bring their children during the school vacation. This program will open big doors to children who want to explore and develop their computer and robotics skills," she added.

The program is part of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs that take place in Massachusetts during summer vacations to promote learning within the middle school student population.

It will culminate in a tournament where SPHERES developed by winning teams will battle aboard the International Space Station (ISS) with participants watching via a live feed while NASA astronauts provide a real-time commentary.

According to the program providers, Zero Robotics seeks to inspire our next generation of great minds by allowing them unprecedented access to space at the middle school level.

"By making the benefits and resources of the International Space Station tangible to students, Zero Robotics hopes to cultivate an appreciation of science, technology, engineering and math through healthy, immersive and collaborative competition," read a statement on the program website.

The program aims at leading young minds "toward considering the concept of working in space to be "normal", allowing imagination to go beyond the boundaries of rocket science. Each year's game is motivated by a problem of interest to NASA and MIT," adds the statement.

However, according to organizers, "Zero Robotics provides educators assigned to each selected center with the necessary training and ongoing technical support needed to provide middle school students with an experiential learning opportunity in computer programming."

African immigrant parents who would like to get their children to try out unique program brought to their backyard are urged to contact the Read with Us Day Program located at 1470 Lakeview Ave in Dracut for more information or to sign up.

The program will run for 5 hours a day from 8am to 1pm Monday through Thursday.

However, parents are required to sign up their kids online or in person with the entire $500 Day Program fee paid up front as space is limited.

For more info on how to sign up, contact Read with US at: 978-376-1904.
1470 Lakeview Ave in Dracut, MA.

Source:

Ajabu Africa News