The Northeast Ohio Robotics Education Program (NEOREP) is an academic program staffed by a dedicated group of volunteers from education and industry that provides middle and high school students with a "hands-on" learning experience for approximately 8-12 weeks. The program culminates in an annual autonomous robotics competition focusing on STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Math) and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) learning for students in grades 5 - 12 to compete in two age divisions in March of each year.
Background
The Northeast Ohio Robotics Education Program (NEOREP) is a regional robotics education program founded in 1998 to allow students from northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania the opportunity to experience authentic/experiential/inquiry-based/constructivist/project-based learning.
NEOREP was created by a consortium of engineering technology programs that joined together to inspire and motivate students toward studies and careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) by providing a sports-like technology contest.
A team of students from each school is assisted by a teacher-coach to build an autonomous programmable LEGO® robot to perform defined tasks. Approximately 300 students and coaches participate annually.
The competition is divided into five categories or events: technical journal, oral presentation, vehicle inspection, game 1, and game 2. The overall robotics education program is aligned to the Ohio Common Core Standards in English/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Technology.
Goals
- Increase awareness of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers
- Increase the number of under-represented groups (women and minorities) participating in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities and education
- Reinforce academic and technology content standards
- Incorporate information and communication technology skills and concepts
- Introduce the engineering design process
- Foster teamwork
- Encourage critical thinking and problem solving skills
- Teach project management
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
NEOREP, when financially possible, provides free training to teacher-coaches in LEGO ® EV3 software and other programming languages compatible with LEGO ® EV3.
PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
The program is administered through the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at Youngstown State University and funded strictly through modest team registration fees, donations, and grants.
INFORMATION
For more information, contact the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, Youngstown State University, One University Plaza, Meshel Hall 339, Youngstown, OH 44555, (330) 941-2452 or e-mail Dr. Bob Kramer rwkramer@ysu.edu.