August 12, 2014 at 10:30 PM
CHATHAM, NJ - Chatham High students are taking time from their summer vacation to pass on their knowledge of robotics and "Scratch" programming to fourth and fifth graders over a two-week period.
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. The ChathamSTEM program includes students from the Newark Boys and Girls Club and the surrounding community.
Eric Liotta, Steve Bondurich, Patrick Connor, Evan Bressler and Akshay Dajee have all volunteered to lead the robotics and "Scratch" classes held between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. at CHS.
"The whole points is to promote STEM throughout the community," Liotta said. "A lot of people don't really know what engineering is or what an engineer does. They know of it, but they weren't really exposed to any type of engineering or robotics. This is really where the future of the world is going with all the advancements with the smartphone and tablets.
Patrick Connor tries out the robotic programming devised by Connor, 11, in video below
"It's an opportunity to work with robots and the thought process you need to program a robot," Bondurich said. "We give them challenges and see the steps they take to solve them."
Scratch is a programming language for kids. Students in the class on Tuesday learned how to write the programming for navigating their way through a maze.