An Evaluation Of The Dteach Robolab Summer Institute For 2004

1. Overview of the Institute During a 2 week period the summer of 2004, the University of Texas at Austin (UTA) hosted the DTEACh ROBOLAB Automation and Control Institute. The institute is sponsored by National Instruments; the maker of the ROBOLAB software. During the institute, a group of 28 K-12 teachers spent 2 weeks at UTA learning how they could integrate Lego® Mindstorm products, which are controlled by the ROBOLAB software, into their classrooms. Each K-12 teacher received a Lego® Mindstorm kit and the ROBOLAB software. Approximately 1⁄2 of the teachers had previous experience using ROBOLAB in their classrooms. One goal of the institute is to provide a way to integrate technology into K-12 classrooms in a manner that incorporates extensive active learning. The Lego Mindstorm framework provides an extensive hands-on environment for accomplishing this goal. The incorporation of hands-on, active learning techniques like this have been shown in the past to provide a tremendously enhanced learning environment 1-9 .