Inside the Classroom: Sheila Greene - Adams Middle

Inside the Classroom is a series that visits Northwest ISD campuses throughout the year and highlights the magical moments that happen between teachers and students each and every day across the entire 234 square miles of NISD.

“Failure is a normal part of robotics.”

That’s the message that Sheila Greene delivers to her students just before they present their simple gear trains to the class for the first time. They have been working on their creations with a partner over multiple class periods throughout September, but now it’s time to put their machines to the test.

This week’s edition of Inside the Classroom takes you inside Leo Adams Middle School as Ms. Greene’s seventh and eighth graders in Robotics 1 get their first taste of the trials and tribulations of engineering robots.

For this particular project, groups were tasked with creating a robot that uses a simple gear train. This involves one gear that is driven by a motor, which is then connected to other gears that, in this instance, turn wheels to propel the robot. They were asked to create a robot that could be used to assist in the wake of a natural disaster, and students were able to decorate their robots using cardboard.

As they enter the classroom on presentation day, groups are given 10 minutes to check every element of their project. Ms. Greene has provided a checklist that guides students to examine their battery, drive shaft, coding, etc.

After the 10 minutes expire, students begin to present their creations. The expectations and how they will ultimately be graded is clearly written out on the white board. Students’ need to demonstrate that their gear train is functional, motor is attached and working, code is operational, decorations are complete, etc. 

Luckily for these Adams Lions, today’s presentation is essentially a “test run,” because as Ms. Greene told them at the beginning of class, failure is to be expected. Throughout the two class periods when Inside the Classroom was on hand, more robots failed to function properly than operated as designed. 

Some robots drove in the wrong direction. Other robots didn’t stop before hitting a wall. Some didn’t move at all. Very few operated as intended, and that is what Ms. Greene expected.

Ms. Greene is ready to turn each failure into a learning opportunity. She stands at the front of the class with each group as they present, and she offers immediate feedback. She asks students about their challenges and their successes, triggering them to think deeper about their engineering design process.

Robotics 1 is an elective course for middle school students that offers a high school CTE (career and technical education) credit upon completion, therefore Ms. Greene holds her students to a high school standard.

With the time they have remaining in this class period, students fine tune their robots, or go back to the drawing board completely. The next show and tell session will be for real, and with Ms. Greene’s guidance and their willingness to learn from their failures, these students, and their robots, are on the track to success.

Check back regularly all year as we continue to visit students and teachers throughout Northwest ISD and offer a rarely seen look Inside the Classroom.