About the program
This
innovative Robotic Peer Mentoring (RPM) program was jointly developed in
2003 by the University of South Australia (UniSA) and local
electronics innovation business
eLabtronics with seed funding from
the Department of Trade and Economic Development (formerly CIBM) and
Industry sponsors.
The
program addresses numerous issues related to the future skills
development for the electronics sector and as such has been
the endorsement of the Electronics Industry Association (EIA).
Following the successful pilot program in 2003, which involved 220
secondary students across 14 schools, a consortium comprising: UniSA,
eLabtronics, Flinders University and the Australian Science and
Mathematics Schools made a submission to the State Government for
funding.
The submission resulted in an inaugural grant over three years from the Premiers Science and Research Fund coordinated by the Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Directorate of the Department of Further Education Employment Science and Technology (DFEEST). This funding will facilitate the RPM program expanding from 220 students in 2003 to 1,000 secondary students by 2006.
Undergraduate students from UniSA, Flinders and Adelaide University deliver 20 hours of curriculum to students in secondary schools year 9 – 11 classes. The curriculum covers construction of an electronic circuit board as the basis for building a robotic vehicle and the use of innovative eLabtronics software, an icon based assembler CoreChart, to program the microcontroller that controls the robot.
Students have an opportunity to display their work
and race their robots in an annual showcase event at the end of the
school year.
The benefits
The program gives the opportunity for secondary students to work with advanced technologies such as microcontrollers and associated programming tools to develop their innovation skills in the application of technology to new product development.
Students are given an appreciation of the underpinning Science and Mathematics of electronic applications and the importance of these key areas in the development of higher level engineering skills. They also have opportunities to experience how these technologies are used in industry and to develop a better understanding of career possibilities, and the various education and training pathways available, to achieve a range of employment outcomes in Electronics and Engineering generally.
Teachers experience a unique classroom based delivery of staff development in new technologies and their use for teaching Science and Mathematics in an innovative way. Undergraduate students gain skills in communicating their knowledge and providing assistance in problem solving. Organisations involved in the program benefit from interactions with secondary and undergraduate students and the broadening of the innovation skill base within South Australia.