Vex IQ Robotics Program
After a hiatus last year because of COVID, robotics will return to Northwest Middle this fall starting the first
Tuesday in October (October 5). The class is open to 7th and 8th graders with an interest in robotics and
programming. The class will meet every Tuesday from 3:30 – 5:00 in Mrs. Stokes’s classroom. Mrs. Stokes will be
the teacher helping with the class.
Northwest Robotics participates in VEX robotics which is a competitive program offering robots and competitions from pre-school to college. Northwest students build and compete with their robots at tournaments throughout the state. As COVID emerged, VEX also developed a virtual program that we will offer this fall with the hopes of transitioning to in-person robotics in January. The virtual course offers participation in the 2022 VEX Robotics game, ‘Pitching In’. Students will program a virtual robot to compete on a virtual game field that looks exactly like the real field. Student teams will post their best score with the national foundation
that runs all VEX robotics competitions. Teams with the best scores will earn a chance to compete virtually at the state and national level.
You can watch a short video of this year’s competition game at https://www.vexrobotics.com/iq/competition/viqc-current-game
Northwest robotics courses are offered at no cost to students. The virtual platforms for programming and competing are also free and are web-based requiring no downloads. They both run on student Chromebooks permitting students to explore programming outside of class. The course will give students a chance to learn python-based programming using instruction and challenge exercises specifically tailored to middle school students. Two platforms are available – one to teach programming (with a number of different playing fields and challenges for students to explore); and a second platform specific to the competition game. The course will use both platforms.
The robot we will use for both the fall virtual course and the potential spring in-person course is the VEX IQ robot developed specifically for middle school students (https://www.vexrobotics.com/iq ). It is a programmable robot that comes with a variety of sensors permitting sophisticated programming to control robot behavior. The class is being taught by the group of retired volunteers who coached robotics at the school in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years. The volunteers are part of Steam Tech Teams who have been teaching technology and science at Greenville County Schools for seven years. The volunteers will lead the class with Mrs. Stokes’s help. This fall they will be linked to the class virtually with the ability to offer one-on-one help to students via chat rooms.
You can read more about Steam Tech Teams at https://www.facebook.com-steamtechteams
Questions can be sent to vexiqstt@gmail.com or sberget@gmail.com. Coach Berget can also also be reached by
phone at 864-616-0363.
Tuesday in October (October 5). The class is open to 7th and 8th graders with an interest in robotics and
programming. The class will meet every Tuesday from 3:30 – 5:00 in Mrs. Stokes’s classroom. Mrs. Stokes will be
the teacher helping with the class.
Northwest Robotics participates in VEX robotics which is a competitive program offering robots and competitions from pre-school to college. Northwest students build and compete with their robots at tournaments throughout the state. As COVID emerged, VEX also developed a virtual program that we will offer this fall with the hopes of transitioning to in-person robotics in January. The virtual course offers participation in the 2022 VEX Robotics game, ‘Pitching In’. Students will program a virtual robot to compete on a virtual game field that looks exactly like the real field. Student teams will post their best score with the national foundation
that runs all VEX robotics competitions. Teams with the best scores will earn a chance to compete virtually at the state and national level.
You can watch a short video of this year’s competition game at https://www.vexrobotics.com/iq/competition/viqc-current-game
Northwest robotics courses are offered at no cost to students. The virtual platforms for programming and competing are also free and are web-based requiring no downloads. They both run on student Chromebooks permitting students to explore programming outside of class. The course will give students a chance to learn python-based programming using instruction and challenge exercises specifically tailored to middle school students. Two platforms are available – one to teach programming (with a number of different playing fields and challenges for students to explore); and a second platform specific to the competition game. The course will use both platforms.
The robot we will use for both the fall virtual course and the potential spring in-person course is the VEX IQ robot developed specifically for middle school students (https://www.vexrobotics.com/iq ). It is a programmable robot that comes with a variety of sensors permitting sophisticated programming to control robot behavior. The class is being taught by the group of retired volunteers who coached robotics at the school in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years. The volunteers are part of Steam Tech Teams who have been teaching technology and science at Greenville County Schools for seven years. The volunteers will lead the class with Mrs. Stokes’s help. This fall they will be linked to the class virtually with the ability to offer one-on-one help to students via chat rooms.
You can read more about Steam Tech Teams at https://www.facebook.com-steamtechteams
Questions can be sent to vexiqstt@gmail.com or sberget@gmail.com. Coach Berget can also also be reached by
phone at 864-616-0363.
