Building robots, building confidence
Sixty-four students. Sixteen teams. Two world champions.
Those are the numbers that defined Oak Mountain Middle School’s robotics program in the 2016-17 school year.
OMMS teacher Sherri Whitehead, who sponsors the school’s robotics team, has seen those numbers increase steadily since taking over in 2014. Back then, there were only a handful of students participating — between six and 10 — and those numbers doubled in 2015.
In 2015, more students competed in statewide competition, and two teams went on to compete at worlds. In 2016-17, five teams made it to worlds, with one team making it all the way to finals.
“Over the last three years, it’s kind of grown exponentially,” Whitehead said, later adding that she hopes the program — and the number of students advancing in competition — continues to grow. “My hope is to build a program where students are seeing constant success, whether that is in competition or just in individual success.”
A new career path
Teaching robotics is an immensely rewarding task, Whitehead said, but those rewards are not just trophies or ribbons. Instead, it’s seeing students develop as problem solvers and team members.
“What’s really neat about the program is the kids, they are learning so much,” Whitehead said. “They learn from each other, they learn from me and some of their mentors, but the thing is they don’t really realize they’re learning. They think it’s a game.”
VEX IQ, the robotics competitive program for elementary, middle and intermediate schools, also teaches more than just STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills. Students learn about computer programming and coding, but they also fill out engineering notebooks that require writing and communication skills; they learn how gears and motors can work together, but they also learn how to utilize the talents of team members.
“There are so many life skills that come together in a robotics competition,” Whitehead said. “That’s so beneficial.”
And for some students, joining robotics means finding a place in their school. Cole Atkins, a rising ninth-grader who first participated in robotics last year, re-evaluated his plans for the future in Whitehead’s class.
“I told her [Whitehead] when he [Cole] went into eighth grade, he was like, ‘When I grow older, I’m just going to work at a video store,’” said Heather Atkins, Cole’s mother and a music teacher at Oak Mountain Elementary School. “And now he wants to be an engineer.”
As a music teacher, Atkins put her son in band, thinking he would enjoy that activity. When that did not work, they tried sports such as wrestling, but he did not find his place.
“Going to school, there was really nothing about school he enjoyed,” Atkins said. “So we struggled with sixth and seventh grade to find him a niche. … By the time he got to eighth grade, and they offered the all-year robotics class, he was like, ‘Please let me try this.’”
Suddenly, Cole wanted to get to school early to work on his robot, he found a solid friend group and his grades started to improve, Atkins said.
“He really just took off, and Sherri did such a great job of encouraging him,” Atkins said. “She’s just that kind of teacher that sparks that, that fuels that and encourages it.”
Instead of worrying about the transition to high school, Atkins said both she and Cole are now excited about the change. Cole is looking forward to taking engineering-related courses, looking into scholarship opportunities and continuing in robotics at Oak Mountain High School.
“I really would have not thought changing one class and just changing one extra thing would make that big of a difference, but it really has,” Atkins said.
DISCOVERING A drive
Atkins is not the only parent to see an improvement in her child’s schoolwork. John Watson, father of rising eighth-grader Piper Watson, said he has seen his daughter gain a newfound focus from robotics, and she is applying that to all other aspects of her education.
Piper was a lot like himself, Watson said, “going from one thing to the next” and having a difficult time remaining focused. That affected her schoolwork, he said, and led her to struggle with a few of her classes.
“Being around a team … and being in robotics, it really has helped her to focus on this one thing that she really likes, but from that, she has backed into applying that same focus [in other classes],” Watson said. “She now sees if she applies time and effort to anything, she sees a benefit from it.”
While his daughter used to put her energy into “things she already felt good about,” she is now willing to take on challenges and build her skills in those areas.
“This is the first thing that has gotten her locked in,” Watson said, adding that being around a team and other girls who are dedicated to robotics and improvement has helped Piper.
“This is a great stepping stone for those kind of kids, who have never been in a team environment,” Watson said. “They’ve got to contribute to the team.”
Whitehead’s strategic team placement, Watson said, also benefits all of her students. Piper is still learning how to program, but Whitehead placed her on a team with students that have complementary skills.
“There’s a lot of different pieces to this program, and Sherri is great about, ‘OK this child is inexperienced and needs to be put with this team,’” Watson said. “She’s really good about bringing different elements of kids together so that they grow as a team.”
A new trend
Students in Oak Mountain-area schools now have the opportunity to get involved in robotics even earlier. OMES has a new STEM room under construction, and Whitehead has paired with teachers to introduce elementary schoolers to robotics. Inverness Elementary School has also reached out about starting its own program.
OMES students are able to walk next door to the middle school to watch and learn from the middle school students working with robots. Those partnerships, between and within schools, are something Whitehead said she hopes to build. In general, she hopes to see more students benefit from being exposed to robotics.
“I would love to be able to help facilitate that,” Whitehead said. “I would love to see it grow even outside of our Oak Mountain community.”
Earlier introduction to robotics, Atkins said, can also mean students find their niche and find success earlier.
“I think if Cole had had that opportunity earlier, we could have identified, ‘This is something he really excels at,’” Atkins said, adding that she is glad to see coding and robotics as part of OMES.
As Piper enters her second year on the OMMS robotics team and her last year at the school, Watson said he wishes she got involved “even earlier.” That could have helped her polish her programming skills, he said, but he’s grateful robotics is something Oak Mountain schools offer.
“I look around the landscape of the state, and I see so many schools not even doing any kind of robotics,” he said, “and I feel so fortunate that Oak Mountain is so into it.”
In the Birmingham area, a majority of the teams in advanced competition levels only come from a handful of schools, Watson said. Each school has several teams, but Watson hopes the robotics trend spreads more evenly throughout the state.
“I think anything we can do to push this to other schools, it will just be better for everyone,” Watson said. “I think the way the program lends itself, there are so many different skills that are needed, and you can pull kids along so far as what their needs are.”