Elementary Science is Just Not the Same

A third grade teacher creates a new science program for two of his kids who are interested.

Four years and many calculations later, students ages nine to fourteen get to work hands-on and learn math, engineering, and computer programming in…Robotics.

In the past four years, Robotics has grown rapidly with fourth graders and fifth graders who have offered Robotics as a science elective. Second and third graders will soon be incorporating it into their science classes as well.

In elementary, Robotics is king!

“Whenever students miss Robotics they are disappointed. (Mr. Baker laughs) Rarely have I seen a student sad about missing class,” adds Mitchell Baker, the faculty sponsor for the elementary Robotics teams.

The competition Robotics teams go to a series of tournaments held every year that lead from region, to state, and ultimately to the  international which ironically will be held in Georgia this year.

The teams build Lego robots to perform “missions” or tasks that are related to the year’s theme.  This year the theme is transportation.  The robot must complete the missions in a time limit of two minutes and thirty seconds.

“The response to Robotics has been overwhelmingly positive” says Baker , “Our next step is to get Robotics into the junior high, where kids can take it as an elective and meet during class and not just outside of school for an extra curricular.”

There is no doubt that Robotics will keep expanding.  Because students must complete a research project and participate in an interview about why they built the robot the way they did, no one can second guess the educational purposes of Robotics. “Robotics helps us to think outside the box backwards,” says standout student Zachary Musser.  Notwithstanding all the learning, the students know one thing,  school can be fun.

The GACS Robotics Team has its first competition on December 5, the Gwinnett Open Qualifier at Georgia Environmental & Heritage Center. Come out and give them your support!

Debate Team Finishes Strong at Chattahoochee

CONGRATULATIONS to the Debate Team for a strong tournament at the Chattahoochee tournament the last weekend in September.

Varsity policy team Andrew Kim and Steven Hanna went four-one, finishing sixth out of the forty teams present, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Andrew Kim finished seventh out of forty students in the Varsity division.

Novice policy team Alexander Addington and Taylor Spann went four-one also, finishing eighth out of the forty teams present, advancing to the quarterfinals.

Public forum team Xavier Dicks and Joshan Smith went three-one, finishing sixth.

Public forum team Anthony Guerreso and Karan Makim went three-one.

Ahyan Niazi finished tenth out of the forty students in the Varsity division.

Alexander Addington finished third out of the eighty students in the Novice division.

Congratulations to Team Coach Matt Fincher and his debaters on a strong tournament!