Dad introduces robotics curriculum at daughter's school

In partnership with the private school Prodigy Leadership Academy, Erik Lee of Cape Girardeau has formulated a curriculum to teach children about robotics.

"The idea is to give ... children fluency in technology, so robots are going to be the unifying theme of it all, but what I really want to do is kind of pull the veil off technology so [they can see] that all these magic-looking gizmos that we have are actually just composed of simple things," said Lee, whose 5-year-old daughter attends Prodigy. Lee also has a 2-year-old son who is into computers.

He has a bachelor's degree in computer science and math and a master's in computer science, both from the University of New Mexico, and he's been working in computer security research for the past 13 years for Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Prodigy Leadership Academy robotics curriculum is divided into programming, mechanics and a section in which students can take things apart and rebuild them for varying purposes.

"By doing those three things," Lee said, "the intention is to get the kids' hands dirty as fast as possible and cover the spectrum of ... what technology looks like it's headed toward."

He said robotics encompasses everything from mechanical engineering to programming artificial intelligence and sensory integration.

"Basically, anything you want to touch in technology can have a role in robotics, so it's a really great platform for expanding [children's] awareness of what's around them," Lee said.

The curriculum also is meant to instill life skills in students such as persistence and troubleshooting so they can gain confidence to approaching something they don't understand and subsequently master it, Lee said.

Russell Grammer, who started Prodigy Leadership Academy with his wife, Amy, said the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school is in the early stages of implementing the curriculum.

Lee said the children are excited about it and are using a Bee Bot, which can go forward, backward, left and right, and combining it with classical computer-science problems.

There also is a Probot, which is more complicated, that the children haven't started using yet, Lee said.

Lee wrote the curriculum for Prodigy teachers to review and put their "practical angle on things" because he has no classroom teaching experience.

"I've always been interested in teaching, so it's exciting for me to be part of making a curriculum that, hopefully, will be a success at this school. ... Then we're going to open source it and share it with anyone who's interested," Lee said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

1301 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.