ONTARIO — Hunter Olar set the four-wheeled robot on mat, pressed a button on the attached control box and leaned back in his computer chair.
The machine spun to the right a sharp 45 degrees and lurched forward. The robot traveled 447 millimeters exactly, knocking a red plastic ball towards the edge of the mat, then spun again to approach a blue ball in the neighboring corner.
The bot was one of Olar’s class projects for Intro to Technology Systems and Design at Ontario High School.
“Once I built my robot, I coded the brain to where it’ll go and knock each ball out of the spot,” said Olar, a freshman.
Olar programmed the bot using the coding language Python in about 45 minutes.
Students in Ontario have opportunities to engage with science, technology, math and engineering (STEM) throughout their education, from after school coding clubs at the elementary school to specialized electives in middle and high school.
“I think it’s of the utmost importance to give students all kinds of real world applications and I have just found that this type of program lends itself to that,” said Heath Sager, who teaches STEM courses at Ontario High School.
“(Supt. Keith) Strickler has a similar background and he and our school board has placed an emphasis on developing this program.”
Strickler started off his career as technology education teacher at Shelby Middle School. His first job at Ontario was the middle school STEM teacher, a position he held for a year before being promoted to building principal.
Now in his sixth year at Ontario, Strickler said he hopes to continue building the STEM program.
For him, it’s all about providing opportunities for students to discover new interests and gain real world skills.
From drafting to coding
Sager teaches out of two computer labs — one focused on robotics and another, smaller space with top-of-line 3D printers and a CNC machine.
Strickler, an Ontario graduate, said the high school’s STEM lab has evolved over time.
“When I was here at school, we had drafting,” he recalled. “It was all on big tables, and you’d have the arms and you draw everything on paper.”
Hands on, project-based learning is a key component of STEM education. At the middle and high school, students build VEX robots, create 3D designs, operate CNC machines and use laser printers to cut and carve designs into wood.
During a recent presentation to the board of education, Sager gave an overview of the skills students in his classes learn.
Students learn about robotics, programming, CAD, architecture and construction during their first year.
“By the end of Year 2, after they have executed the design process through solving a few design problems, they usually have found out what they really enjoy working with and what they don’t,” Sager said.
In Tech I, II and III, students spend much of the fourth quarter working on a capstone project of their choice. Focus areas from last year included computer aided-design (CAD), video game design, 3D printing, residential construction, video editing, 3D modeling, robotics and computer science.
Students submit a proposal with a six-week timeline and track their progress in a design log or engineering journal.
“I set up a number of projects and assignments that involve the process of design and modeling, teamwork, and hopefully, develop some of their “employability” skills over the duration of the classes,” Sager said.
“By the last quarter of the year, the older students who have been around a while know they can pick about anything STEM-related to focus on.”
Preparing the future workforce
J.T. Viscioni has been taking STEM classes since middle school. He’s done 3D printing, put together VEX robotics kids and learned to code, but designing things in SolidWorks is his favorite.
“It’s cool because I can reverse engineer something and make it in SolidWorks,” he said.
“Anybody that has a 3D printer can just go to a website and download something, but I think it’s kind of satisfying to make something that works, and then have a quality product when you’re done with it.”
SolidWorks isn’t the only real-world software students use. At the middle school, students build their CAD skills using the entry level version of SketchUp, the same software used by interior designers Chip and Joanna Gaines on their HGTV show, Fixer Upper.
“It’s pretty cool when they can see somebody’s making hundreds of thousands of dollars using the same program that they are,” said middle school STEM teacher Doug Basham.
Basham and his students also work with robots in the middle school STEM lab. The oversized classroom, once used for study hall, is divided into two sections. Rows of computers fill one half of the room. The other side is open, currently occupied by plywood ramps for an obstacle course.
Basham said students began the school year by building and programming the robots. They’ll program and operate them with computer code later in the school year.
Teachers like Basham often give students some flexibility to experiment and create within the boundaries of the task.
“They create the entire obstacle course. I tell them what it has to have. It has to have two ramps, three 180 degree turns, two clawed movements, one pickup, one drop and a bridge,” Basham said.
“This is truly a dream job, giving kids the opportunity just do stuff hands on.”
At Stingel Elementary, teachers can check out 3D printers from the school library. Strickler said there isn’t a STEM class yet due to funding. He hopes to add one in the future.
“We’re just getting started,” Strickler said. “I look for every opportunity to infuse STEM things into different curriculums.
Strickler said another goal is to offer more industry-recognized credentials at the high school. Industry-recognized credentials are a staple of career tech education and certify a student’s knowledge and skill in a certain area.
“The more certifications you have, the more opportunities,” Strickler said.
Strickler cited Intel planned facility in New Albany and recent changes at Mansfield’s 179th Airlift Wing as an example of why STEM education is so important. The base was re-designated as the first Air National Guard Cyberspace Wing earlier this year.
“They’re gonna be adding a lot of cyber-type type jobs,” he said. “You think about all the other manufacturers and stuff that kind of goes along with that. That could be in our area, but we need to have a trained workforce.”