Make sure to visit the STEM Tent at the Unionville Community Fair By Marcella Peyre-Ferry Staff Writer For something fun and educational, be sure to visit the STEM tent staffed by students from the Unionville-Chadds Ford First Tech Challenge (FTC) robotics teams. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education is an important part of the curriculum in the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, with robotics teams as a related feature. Students can start as early as kindergarten and first grade with FIRST LEGO League Junior. Children can join at any age level with FIRST Lego League for children in second through sixth grade and FTC for students in seventh through twelfth grades. At the youngest level, FIRST Lego Junior is focused on building with blocks. The skill level accelerates quickly in FIRST Lego League where students work with mechanical pieces and programming. In FTC, teams must build a robot that will be able to take on the challenges of competition. “They can join at any time - they don’t have to join from the beginning. They don’t have to have experience in robotics or programming, or mechanical attitude. You just need to want to try STEM,” said Natalia Duchini, the robotics coordinator for
the school district. Duchini has a personal interest in the program as well because her daughters are members of an FTC team. Their different personalities demonstrate how FTC can appeal to students with a wide range of interests and talents. “One is into engineering while the other is more about human rights and helping the less advantaged,” Duchini said. “We embrace every single kid. You can participate in the program from different angles. We have kids that love programming— they are great for that part of the program. There are kids that are more inclined toward building, then you have other kids that love volunteering or community events and you have that outreach part of the program. Everyone has a home.” For the FTC teams, there is an element of competition that helps the students set goals and work together toward success with their robots. “The idea is to create something similar to football or any other sport with competition, but for other children that love more science,” Duchini said. “One of the core values of FIRST is collaboration. It’s about helping each other and making the community better.” Each year the challenge the robots must address in competition
Courtesy photos
In addition to the robotics table, there will be a number of hands-on activities visitors can try which focus on STEM skills, particularly those that can be related to agriculture.
24 Fall 2019 • Unionville Community Fair
