Coast Guarding into STEM through a PBL Project

This article explains what Project-based Learning (PBL) is all about and gives a real-life example. The Coast Guard Academy developed the CCAROW (Coast Guard Academy Robotics on Water) proj... See More

This article explains what Project-based Learning (PBL) is all about and gives a real-life example. The Coast Guard Academy developed the CCAROW (Coast Guard Academy Robotics on Water) project for groups of high school students and teachers. The project takes students about 4 days to complete and teachers one day. Teams receive a kit of materials, and the goal is to design and build a radio-controlled floating robotic craft to complete potential Coast Guard missions. For teachers interested in reading how PBL can be incorporated into a classroom while strengthening students’ engineering and math skills, this article provides an excellent example.

PBL on robotics

The article describes a wonderful activity where students are challenged to create a robot to solve a problem. I do not give it a 5 because it is a bit cost prohibitive, but the activity is ... See More

The article describes a wonderful activity where students are challenged to create a robot to solve a problem. I do not give it a 5 because it is a bit cost prohibitive, but the activity is good and there are links to information on technical writing where students have to read technical literature and write their own descriptions of how their robot works. This is appropriate for high school and maybe enrichment classes in middle school.