Blog 21: Mentorship

LIA Response to blog:

    Literal

·     Contact Name and Mentorship Place

Joey Uken

josephuken@gmail.com

(510)396-7674.

I-Poly Robotics Team (Formerly, Inland Empire Broncos Team 7258)

    Interpretive

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

         The most important thing i gained IS the experience. To speak about the effectiveness of a FIRST robotic program in aiding students to become more adept in STEM fields means i have to understand how these programs work. I went through the programs so that i may know how they operate, what types of teaching they employ, and to understand the thought process of students who go through the programs. I now know that the programs work effectively because of the team structure and the use of projects to better further the STEM interest for these students. I myself found it fun to work with many different minds on creating things using our engineering skills and our hands on approach was very effective in making me want to participate in STEM fields. It is a completely different environment when you really look forward to meeting with your team and working on a new part of a robot or thinking of cool ideas to implement and i now know of the effectiveness of teams and working in them as well as being hands on in a project based format. 

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

          My mentorship has helped my answer three. Answer three involves the 4 C's, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and cooperation. These 4 C's are components of project and group based learning and working in a team and experiencing the team format with my own eyes is a very different experience from reading about it. I can now cite my own experience in these FIRST STEM programs as a useful primary source albeit my objectivity might now be completely solid. I was already interested in STEM fields before i joined the robotics team and it only helped me solidify what i want to do with the rest of my life which also helps reference answer 2.

Grading Criteria (May 13^th)

• 50 hours completed (50 from the academic year)

• LIA response (submitted to your blog)

• Essential question connection