At Brookside, inspiring braniacs — one robot at a time

Photo for the Record Gazette by Mike Sturman Brielan Sadler, a fourth-fifth-grade combo teacher at Beaumont’s Brookside Elementary School, is having her Robotics Club members build a Mars Rover-type robot.Published: Friday, November 4, 2011 12:11 AM CDTBeaumont’s Brookside Elementary School has its share of braniacs.In fact, Janae Keels, 9, is so tech-savvy that when her mother got a new phone and had trouble programming it, the girl jumped in to help. So it’s no surprise that Keels was attracted to Brookside’s after-school Robotics Club.“(The club) is pretty fun,” she said while helping her three teammates build a robot during a Thursday afternoon meeting. “I like to take things apart and put them back together.”Putting things together, in this case a motorized Mars Rover-like contraption, is what the club is all about.Brielan Sadler, a fourth/fifth-grade combo teacher at Brookside, runs the club. “When I started this, I just wanted to give kids the opportunity to experience new technology, to see computers as more than just game-playing devices,” said Sadler, who has been at Brookside since it opened in 2004.Although the club was her brainchild, Sadler was influenced by her mother, who is a teacher at Colton’s Sycamore Hills Elementary School, which is a NASA Explorer School. At such a school, students are encouraged to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics using NASA’s resources. Sadler said Brookside is seeking the NASA designation.The Colton teachers “did some robotics there and went through some training at JPL,” she said, referring to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. “And I got to spend a day at JPL, which was really cool.”So, she decided to bring some of that coolness to Brookside. As the Gifted and Talented Education coordinator, she applied for and won a grant to begin the club.With the money, she purchased eight Mindstorm kits, which cost between $200 and $250 each, to use in the club. Each robot-building kit contains 828 pieces, enough to build an assortment of devices. When the GATE program was discontinued, Sadler opened the club up to all fourth- and fifth-graders. Although the kits are out of date and need upgrading, Sadler said that will have to wait until the money is available.“We were looking for kids who could work together, who were innovative thinkers and problem-solvers,” she said. “We were not looking for techno geniuses.”The first assignment of the year is to build a mini-Mars Rover, then use the included computer program to tell the robot what to do.“It’s fun to activate them and see them move in different directions,” said Keels, who wants to be a robot builder someday.The computer program, called LabVIEW, teaches the students the basics of computer programming through the use of icons instead of a complicated coded program. For example, when the student is ready to program the robot, a sensor is plugged into a computer, and the action starts.First, an icon that tells the robot to start is dragged from a menu to a position on a blank screen. Should the student want the robot to move forward for 10 seconds, a second icon is dragged next to the first. To stop and change direction, other icons are dragged over until a string of commands is in place.The robot reads the senor wirelessly, and off it goes.“I like technology and computers,” said Josh Cash, 10, who wants to be a marine biologist or an inventor. “It’s fun hanging out with my friends and making computer stuff together.”For Kaitlyn Mixon, 10, the club is a first step toward the future.“This is a good way for me to interact and get smart with robots,” she said. “I want to be a scientist and build rovers. My parents are really proud of me.”Sadler said parents have been very supportive.Beverly Kelley’s daughter, Selah, 10, is in the club.“I’m seeing them learn teamwork, which is just as important as everything else,” she said as she waited for her daughter to finish up. “They’re having so much fun they don’t realize they’re learning. And Miss Sadler is an amazing person.“This is really great, especially for the girls.”Sadler said when the club started, mostly boys showed interest. Now, the 28-member club has about half boys and half girls.“Girls are better problem-solvers,” Sadler said. “When a problem comes up, the boys are more likely to just throw up their hands and say, “It doesn’t work.”But, despite any problems that may arise, all members would agree with Cash, when he calls the club “awesome.”

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