L.I. Elementary Students Learn Math, Science From Unlikely Tutor
CENTEREACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) – Some Long Island elementary school students are getting some early lessons in science and math from an unlikely tutor.
The students at Jericho Elementary School couldn't stop laughing and applauding the robot show in their classroom on Wednesday, which even included a demonstration in Tai Chi.
As CBS 2's Hazel Sanchez reported, robots will now be an everyday part of the curriculum for students in the Middle Country School District.
"Grades 1-5 will be programming and using the robot," Jericho Elementary School Principal Glen Rogers said.
School administrators say they used a state grant to buy the robot in a serious effort to get children at the earliest ages to see the value of science and math.
"It helps them see science and technology as something they can do themselves. They can program the robot and actually see results immediately," 4th grade teacher Ray Sabini said.
While the robot's animated chatter grabs the students' attention, each day, they will be learning how to use the computer to control the robot's movements.
Robot Coordinator Aaron Factor has spent months learning the robot's movements and almost sees it like another person now.
"It's almost as though I can detect some of the robot's mannerisms in the way that it responds to me, but I actually know that can't be the case," Factor said.
Students, meanwhile, already had a few jobs in mind for the robot.
"I'd make it do my chores and homework," 8-year-old Steve Katsis said.
But the robot is all about business in the hopes that these grade school students become the future Einsteins of computer science and physics-- or perhaps even invent a robot that in fact could do their chores and homework.
So far, the little robot has yet to be named but students themselves will choose a name for their new friend, CBS 2 reported.
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