Marker Robots
With the semester coming to a close in my first year as a STEM EE Scholars student, I have had the ability to help out in many different ways. I have given blood, talked to some inspiring people, and probably the most meaningful, I have volunteered at Innis Elementary School with Scientific Thinkers. Scientific Thinkers allows me to go to Innis Elementary School, a school under academic emergency, and teach the students there different things in the science field. It means a lot to me because these students otherwise don’t do much with science since their school doesn’t have much to fund scientific learning. The school is very impoverished in relation to other schools I have visited, but it reminds me of the volunteering I did at a school in North Chicago, about ten minutes from where I live in Illinois. Both schools don’t have enough money to fund several different things, including science, and it is a great experience to teach a student something that they wouldn’t otherwise learn.
When I walk into Innis Elementary School, there is something very different that I notice right off the bat; the classrooms aren’t really rooms and rather one large open space divided into rooms by movable boards. These boards are mounted with projects, posters and other learning materials but their main purpose is to divide two classes. It makes the school very hard to navigate through, and the group always gets lost trying to find the grade we are assigned to teach, but when we walk by all eyes are on us. The students are all so excited to see us “scientists” and they know they are in for a treat when we stop by their section of the school.
As we introduce ourselves to the students, we talk about our goals for the future. There are audible “oohs” and “ahhs” as we all say what we want to do, and it is so nice to hear someone so intrigued about my career goals without any doubt in my ability to succeed. Once we start the experiments, the students are always rowdy but it’s tolerable knowing that they probably haven’t had this much fun in class since the “science time” before. When we made “Marker Robots”–robots made out of cups, markers and a battery powered motor with a blade for a fan–the students were running around telling their friends what they made. Everyone was making the same puttering robot that just bounced around drawing random circles on a sheet of paper, but I have never seen someone so excited in my life. Talking about the robots made the students light up with an indescribable happiness and that is easily one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed.
The ability to easily make a child inspired is sometimes all you need to be happy with something you do. At the hardest times in my academic journey, all I have to do is think about is the inspiration I give to the students at Innis Elementary School and I know I can succeed for the sake of the students; I inspire these students and that is incredibly gratifying.
Our marker robots looked a bit like this, except they didn’t have googly eyes. They did have names though (Felicia and Bert were the two I helped make)!