Dr. Lorraine Cella, principal of Hoboken High School reports that her students won 2nd place with their ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) in a robotics competition at Stevens Institute of Technology on June 3rd 2009. There were 36 high schools from New York and New Jersey competing. This type of activity where students are asked to work on long term projects, working in collaborative teams, studying meaningful mathematics, science and engineering in context and being judge by a panel of experts is much more consistent with 21st Century skills. Special congrats to Ms. Pepe and Ms. Amin for their support and efforts. -Dr. PetrosinoHoboken's team consists of teachers Joanne Pepe and Jayshree Amin and five students. The teachers have been receiving professional development on teaching robotics for two years as part of the Build It Project, prestigious engineering education and research program at Stevens Institute of Technology funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation's Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST). Students also attended intensive summer workshops, in addition to being enrolled in HHS' robotics class. An engineering student from Stevens made several class visits to HHS throughout the year to assist students with the design of their boats. Students were challeged to design and build boats with lego that could navigate underwater and perform tasks like putting a wiffle ball into an underwater basket. Read more at the Stevens Institute web site.
Picture: HHS Team (L-R) Richard Schoonewolf, Justin Pagan, Robin Baez, Michael Rodriguez, with teachers Jayshree Amin and Joanne Pepe
