Education Highlight B: Summer Robotics Camp

In 2003, the Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology (CISST ERC) provided funding, organizational, and logistical support for the first Summer Robotics Camp conducted for middle school-aged children at the Woodlawn High School in Baltimore, Maryland. The goal of the project is to increase the diversity of students entering the pipeline for science and engineering by sparking their interest at an early age. Students participating in the camp learned robotics construction and theory through a problem-solving application that taught them basic computer programming, electronic theory, soldering, and mechatronics.

The ninety six children who attended the camp came from very diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and from public, private, and home schools across Baltimore City and County. Eighty percent of the children attending the camp were minority students. Congressman Elijah E. Cummings (Democrat from Maryland’s seventh district) visited the project and said he was “tremendously impressed by the students’ level of knowledge in science and technology. Woodlawn’s summer camp provides a meaningful way to introduce middle school students to engineering through robotics in order to encourage them to pursue this course of study in high school and beyond.” His visit had a positive impact on the motivation of the students to be successful in school.

According to C. Anthony Thompson, Woodlawn High School’s principal, “The summer camp was a huge success. The camp was able to provide a low-cost, one-week experience that showed impressionable middle school-aged children the benefits of seeking an education in an engineering-related field.” Ninety percent of the children attending the camp said they would like to attend a camp offered the second year.

Based on the success of the camp, the Office of Science of Baltimore County is funding similar summer camps in environmental science and forensics at Woodlawn, targeted again at middle school-aged children. The summer camps of 2004, including another robotics camp supported by the ERC, will be used as a baseline model within the county to provide a summer enrichment program in science and technology.

The summer activity offers an exciting introduction to real-world science and technology to a group of students—largely urban, minority, early teenagers —at a time when they are open to new interests and seeking career direction. The program also has become a springboard for similar informal-education programs offered more widely by the Baltimore County government.



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