Oklahoma Students Make Their Mark Learning to Program with Rover
John Honeycutt, the only science teacher at Keota High School in rural Oklahoma started the semester determined to develop his students’ leadership skills. He assigned the junior class a special project where they would work in pairs on a “proof of concept” that they would later demonstrate to the class.
Two of his students, juniors Justin Hickman and Brooklyn Martin, were eager to use the new TI-Innovator Rover, a robotic car that students program using a TI-Nspire CX graphing calculator. The high school received 10 Rovers last fall through participation in the GEAR UP grant program at Eastern Oklahoma State College.
“I literally gave the students the Rover and the guide book and said you guys figure it out,” said Honeycutt. “It took them 3 or 4 days to figure out how to draw a line, but when they did, they were so proud of themselves and the beams on their faces were quite beautiful.”
Keota junior Justin Hickman (right) inspects a TI-Innovator Rover while junior Trevor Doss (back) looks on. Hickman is one of two students primarily responsible for programming the calculator that powers Rover to draw a robot.
Imagine the smiles, when in just a few short weeks, Hickman and Martin went from programming Rover to draw a line to programming Rover to draw a large robot on butcher paper. “The coding is pretty simple, it sends a message to Rover to connect to the calculator, and after that it’s just a series of SEND codes that tell it to move forward, turn and reverse,” said Hickman.
Hickman’s teacher was so impressed that he invited local media to the school to watch as the juniors lead Keota third graders through the program that uses Rover to draw a robot. Much to the excitement of teachers and students, The Oklahoma Welcome, a local newspaper, wrote a news story the event, giving the students some well-deserved recognition: Keota students get hands-on with new TI-Innovator Rover technology.
Keota third grade student Kenjie Her (left) watches with fascination as junior Sierra Bishop (right) helps draw a robot using the TI-Innovator Rover.
“We are a tiny little school, isolated from the large metro areas, and now these kids know that someone is paying attention to them and they are being acknowledged,” said Honeycutt. He said all of the students, from elementary school through high school, enjoyed the satisfaction of watching a device they helped to program draw something.
“There is an adeptness that this particular generation has towards technology,” said Honeycutt. “This handheld – the size of it, the shape of it, the way that it works – it looks and feels very similar to things that my students are comfortable with anyway.”
A Keota elementary school 3rd grader shares his robot drawing with his classmates.
Honeycutt hopes the drawings students took home will serve as a tangible memento of an exciting moment in the school day that they can talk about with pride for many years to come, elevating their interest in STEM and better preparing them for future careers.
To use the program students wrote for their TI-Nspire CX and Rover, download the .tns file here.
Tagcloud
Archive
- 2024
-
2023
- January (3)
- February (3)
- March (5)
- April (3)
- May (3)
- June (3)
- July (2)
-
August (6)
- 5 Ways to Spruce Up Your Classroom for Back to School
- Day of the Dog: Which Dog Is Roundest?
- Women Who Code: A TI Intern’s Fascinating STEM Journey
- 6 Sensational TI Resources to Jump-Start Your School Year
- 3 Back-to-School Math Activities to Reenergize Your Students
- A New School Year — A New You(Tube)!
- September (2)
- October (3)
- November (2)
- 2022
-
2021
- January (2)
- February (3)
- March (5)
-
April (7)
- Top Tips for Tackling the SAT® with the TI-84 Plus CE
- Monday Night Calculus With Steve Kokoska and Tom Dick
- Which TI Calculator for the SAT® and Why?
- Top Tips From a Math Teacher for Taking the Online AP® Exam
- Celebrate National Robotics Week With Supervised Teardowns
- How To Use the TI-84 Plus Family of Graphing Calculators To Succeed on the ACT®
- AP® Statistics: 6 Math Functions You Must Know for the TI-84 Plus
- May (1)
- June (3)
- July (2)
- August (5)
- September (2)
-
October (4)
- Transformation Graphing — the Families of Functions Modular Video Series to the Rescue!
- Top 3 Halloween-Themed Classroom Activities
- In Honor of National Chemistry Week, 5 “Organic” Ways to Incorporate TI Technology Into Chemistry Class
- 5 Spook-tacular Ways to Bring the Halloween “Spirits” Into Your Classroom
- November (4)
- December (1)
-
2020
- January (2)
- February (1)
- March (3)
- April (1)
- May (2)
- July (1)
- August (2)
- September (3)
-
October (7)
- Tips for Teachers in the time of COVID-19
- Top 10 Features of TI-84 Plus for Taking the ACT®
- TI Codes Contest Winners Revealed
- Best of Chemistry Activities for the Fall Semester
- Best of Biology Activities for the Fall Semester
- Best of Physics Activities for the Fall Semester
- Best of Middle Grades Science Activities
- November (1)
- December (2)
- 2019
-
2018
- January (1)
- February (5)
- March (4)
- April (5)
- May (4)
- June (4)
- July (4)
- August (4)
- September (5)
-
October (9)
- Art in Chemistry
- Which Texas Instruments (TI) Calculator for the ACT® and Why?
- Meet TI Teacher of the Month: Jessica Kohout
- Innovation in Biology
- Learning With Your Students
- A first-of-its-kind STEM strategy charts path to help educators
- #NCTMregionals Hartford 2018 Recap
- The Math Behind “Going Viral”
- Real-World Applications of Chemistry
-
November (8)
- Testing Tips: Using Calculators on Class Assessments
- Girls in STEM: A Personal Perspective
- 5 Teachers You Should Be Following on Instagram Right Now
- Meet TI Teacher of the Month: Katie England
- End-of-Marking Period Feedback Is a Two-Way Street
- #NCTMregionals Kansas City 2018 Recap
- Slope: It Shouldn’t Just Be a Formula
- Hit a high note exploring the math behind music
- December (5)
- 2017
- 2016
- 2015
