Last week, 7 enthusiastic Clearwater Middle School students and 2 proud teachers got an experience of a lifetime when they headed to North Rock with BIOS to snorkel and operate their winning Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) in the ocean.
The students and teachers of Clearwater Middle School were the overall winners of HSBC Explorer’s 2015 MARINE ROV Angelfish Challenge that occurred on March 8th, 2015. The Challenge brought together 8 local academic bodies with 28 teams in an exciting competition of student-built underwater ROVs. Over the course of 2 months, students designed, built, and practiced operating their custom ROVs. All of their hard work was put to the test in the National Sports Centre pool, where students worked in teams to maneuver their custom ROVs through a challenging underwater obstacle course. Read more about the Mid Atlantic Robotics IN Education (MARINE) program here: http://www.bios.edu/education/marine/.
Here are the
final results of the 2015 MARINE ROV Angelfish Challenge:
- Overall best total score: Clearwater Middle School
- Phase 1 winner: The interview challenge Somersfield Academy
- Phase 2 winner: Navigation ring challenge Clearwater Middle School
- Phase 3 winner: Ring pick up challenge Bermuda Home School Association
- Phase 4 winner: Speed challenge Clearwater Middle School
- Best teamwork: Warwick Academy
- Best team spirit: Sandys Middle School
ROVs
ROVs are an
exciting technology used in places where human research would be dangerous or
potentially detrimental to human health, or costly. Used in space, rough terrain, and deep in the
water, ROVs have permitted researchers and the public to learn more about
places that were previously inaccessible to humans. The earliest ROV was actually designed in Austria
in 1864 by Luppis-Whitehead Automobile, and was a type of torpedo (http://www.rov.org/rov_history.cfm), but since then, ROVs have certainly
come a long way. Recent technological
leaps have allowed ROVs to be used in more places than ever thought possible,
and by thousands of researchers around the world.
Here at BIOS,
researchers are learning more about the complexity of the ocean with our recent
acquisition of undersea gliders. These
gliders, known as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), can be programmed to travel
thousands of miles at a time to look for and collect oceanographic data. Read more here http://www.bios.edu/research/projects/magic-lab/ and follow along on our Facebook page
for updates https://www.facebook.com/biosstation?fref=ts on this exciting work.
In an effort to engage the Bermudian community and young students on the island, BIOS developed MARINE, a multiyear underwater design and engineering program. The program supports and enhances science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and provides the sort of experiential group learning that traditional academic education tends to overlook. This experiential learning can be truly transformative, as students hone their critical thinking skills, individual and group problem solving skills, and technological fluency while seeing firsthand how classroom knowledge translates into everyday use.
The journey begins
At noon, we
picked up the ROV Angelfish Challenge winning group and brought them to the
BIOS campus here in Ferry Reach. The
students looked full of anticipation as we fitted each of them with a wet suit,
mask and snorkel, and fins. Once
everyone was fitted, given a safety briefing, and settled on the boat, we were
off—headed to North Rock!
Mr. Lowe emphasized that the practical education of MARINE was vital to
the different ways that students learn, “I think that this project is the type
of more hands on learning that is needed, especially in public education. Not all kids learn the same way and I think
that we risk losing some students who don’t fit that (traditional) academic
mold.” He explained that students who
are losing interest in academics really “do well and shine in this
program.” The second Clearwater Middle
School teacher, Katyna Rabain, also emphasized the strength of MARINE in
engaging students on the academic periphery, “Some kids who don’t usually excel
in academia were into this project, they were focused and dedicated.”
Girls in STEM
It seemed that students on the periphery weren’t the only ones who
really shined in the program. After
speaking with Mr. Lowe, I chatted with three of the 13 year old girls who were
part of a 4 person all girls team for
Clearwater Middle School. When I asked
if they thought the program should happen again next year, all three girls
unanimously exclaimed ‘yes!’ One student
told me, “They should definitely do it again.
We learned about the ocean, Bermuda, and reefs.” The girls explained that they comprised the
school’s only all girls team and that people were surprised when they won a
challenge at the event, “People don’t think girls can do it. I think we proved them wrong, because we won
the Navigation Challenge. People were
surprised we won because we were girls.”
When asked if participating in the program changed their ideas of what
they wanted to do in their lives, one girl explained, “I always wanted to be a
doctor, but now I am thinking about things like architecture and building
devices, so I think that they should have more projects like this.” Another girl explained that she had to choose
between a cooking class and a design and technology class, and was glad she
chose the latter. In a world where women
in the US comprise only 13% of all engineers and 25% in the field of computer
and math sciences (NSF, Science & Engineering
Indicators, 2014), engaging and inspiring girls to pursue a career in science and
technology seems to be yet another positive consequence of MARINE.
Snorkeling and
putting ROVs to the test
Before we knew it, we arrived at North Rock. An
ideal place for snorkeling, North Rock is 7 miles from the east end and a part
of the North Shore Coral Reef preserve, and a well known landmark in Bermuda’s
waters. The waters were calm, and I
helped the students get into their snorkeling gear on the stern of the
boat. Soon there were splashes and
laughs as the students jumped into the ocean.
I quickly joined
them with an underwater camera in hand, and we all swam over to the coral
reefs. The students and teachers loved exploring
the reefs and were awed by the different fish that swam by below. Here are a few pictures of the group:
After an exploration
of the reefs, the students were called back to the boat so they could try out
their team’s winning ROV in the ocean waters.
The students prepared their ROV and excitedly deployed it in the water, a
few staying onboard the boat to control the robot’s movements. It was so impressive to watch the students
control their custom-built ROV, and even more impressive watching the robot
underwater.
Fun while learning
Back on board, the students packed up their robots, and dispersed
around the boat for the journey home. I
found the boys team on the top deck and had a chance to speak with them about
their experience in the MARINE program.
Traje, aged 13, told me “it was a positive opportunity to do it and try
ROVs. I did enjoy my time. It helped me see different ways of doing
things, a different perspective.” His favorite
part of the robotics program was building the ROVs “because we all had to work
together, think, and come up with ideas.”
Jacari, aged 12, also enjoyed the program, “It was fun. It felt good to do something different in
school because normally we don’t get to do stuff like that.”
Both Mr. Lowe and Mrs. Rabain
also emphasized the benefits of having fun while learning. Mr. Lowe told me, “I think if you let them
have fun, they don’t even know that they are learning. When they start having fun, they begin to
take responsibility for their own education, and that’s what we really want.” Similarly, Mrs. Rabain explained, “It was
like what kids like to do—video gaming—the kids knew what to do already, and
just to be able to make something from scratch—see all of the parts and put it
together-that was what was great about the project… there was a lot of
enthusiasm (for the project). I said
I’ll take one team, but then there was 5! [laughs]. The whole class got involved in it.”
As we neared BIOS, Mrs. Rabain told me about the weekend of the
competition. Rained out, the competition
was canceled and moved to the following day.
Instead of leaving, Mrs. Rabain told me how the students stayed out all
afternoon in the rain to practice with their robots.
I don’t think there’s a better testament to the love and dedication for
this program than that.
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