Science in the News

This is a picture from the article which shows one of the girls testing the robot that they built!

For my "Science in the News" article, I chose International Underwater Robotics Challange a Focus for Seattle Teens regarding the problem of engineering and technology. This article follows three teenage girls who are trying to create an underwater robot to save a 200-pound diver trapped at sea. That was the task that they needed to complete at the Black Sea International ROV Competition and Exhibition in Romania. The girls have a $500 budget to create the robot so they use donated items of PVC, plastic pipes, old printer feeder, a comb, LED strips, a bicycle inner tube, cooking racks, and pool noodles.
I chose this article because I felt that the robotics aspects related to our unit of simple machines. Like the girls in this article, the students in our fieldwork also tried to take parts to try and build a working machine. This machine may not be simple but in the end, it related back to the idea of building and creating. Our students and the girls in this article both followed their curiosity to see where it took them. The girls were not always successful and faced many challenges in getting the robot to operate but they did not give up, just like our students.
There are many different ways in which this article can apply to my unit plan. I can discuss how like the girls in the article, the students are using the tools that they have in order to solve a problem. No matter what the problem may be, as the girls, the students can take their resources and put them together to create something great. It can also be used to discuss the different parts of machinery, and how simple machines can be put together to create more complex machines.
It is important to use news articles when teaching science because science is current and applies to the world outside. You can use news articles to show students that science does not just occur in the classroom. It is current and constantly evolving in the outside world. It is important to make sure that students understand the importance of science and how it can affect their lives in the real world.