Diving Beneath The Surface

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Diving Beneath The Surface

Underwater robotics lessons bring STEM to life for teachers in Guam

Vol. 38 No. 1

In spring 2014, education leaders from across Micronesia came together on the island of Guam to learn about underwater robotics and Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE), a program based at Monterey Peninsula College in Monterey, California. Participants listened intently as they learned about building and participating in competitions with Remotely Operating Vehicles (ROVs) outfitted with tools that could capture images underwater, collect water samples, and gather artifacts from the bottoms of swimming pools. Underwater robotics may not seem that exciting to educators in landlocked areas, but for this group, it sounded like a perfect way to build students’ content knowledge in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and GreenSTEM (STEM focused on environmental sustainability) to learn skills that can be applied in the real world.

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Anne Tweed (atweed@mcrel.org) is a former science teacher, author (including Designing Effective Science Instruction: What Works in Science Classrooms), and director of STEM learning for McREL International. Laura Arndt (larndt@mcrel.org) is a former science teacher and curriculum developer and current STEM/GreenSTEM consultant for McREL International.

References

Arndt, L. (2016). GreenSTEM Model: Steps for an instructional approach [Blog post]. Available at www.mcrel.org/greenstem-model-steps-for-instructional-approach.