Rio Tinto : No bots about it. Student tech skills improve with community grant

Students at the Australian Christian College Singleton (ACCS) now have an exciting new robotics programme thanks to the Rio Tinto Hunter Valley Community Development Fund.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programmes are becoming the way of the future as children are introduced to the skills needed in a technologically driven world.

Allan Perry, a Science & Technology Teacher at ACCS, recognised the importance of STEM programmes and came up with the idea for a robotics programme for his students. Rio Tinto made the idea a reality by funding the programme with Lego Mindstorm products, software and curriculum support material.

Pictured: Australian Christian College Singleton students try out the Edison programmable robot

Rio Tinto specialist, Community Relations Travis Bates said that they could see the potential in the programme immediately.

'By exposing students to basic programming with the introductory robot all the way through to advanced robotics with more complex robots, the students' knowledge and skills will steadily increase. Having these skills will allow students to easily transition into the growing STEM workforce in future Australia.'

Thanks to the grant from Rio Tinto three different types of robots were purchased for the programme.

The Blue-bot introduces the students to coding from as young as Kindergarten. The Edison robot is more complex and suits higher levels as it can read barcodes, follow different procedures and can also be rebuilt.

The Lego Mindstorm robot has unlimited robot options and is professionally programmed making it a favourite among the students.

By working with the robots, the students are learning vital problem solving skills, using literacy and numeracy to find answers, and gaining technical skills in coding and programming that will set them up for a future in the STEM workforce.

Allan said that although the programme has only just started the response from the students has been fantastic.

'The students are so excited to be working with the robots and it has ignited their passion in a way that conventional methods cannot. They are driving the programme with some of them even giving up lunch breaks to keep working with the robots. I'm looking forward to seeing the programme grow over the coming years.'