About+Our+Zoo

=Welcome to the WSU Robot Zoo!=

The Robot Zoo Exhibit was the final project in a graduate teacher education course at Wichita State University called "Robotics Projects." Each teacher spent 5 weeks learning how to build and program using the [|LEGO Mindstorms NXT] equipment, [|NXTG programming] software, and [|engineering curriculum from Carnegie Mellon.] During the course the teachers completed many investigations and robotics projects while also discussing how these projects could be incorporated and integrated into their classrooms. The last three weeks of the course were spent brainstorming and designing their very own robot animal with programmed behaviors that responded to its environment.

media type="custom" key="725281" Fay Rhodes, the author of //The LEGO Mindstorms NXT Zoo//, joined our class in an online discussion and attended our Robot Zoo Exhibit at Wichita State University. We thank her for her time and her wonderful book that inspired our teachers' creativity and enthusiasm for our Robot Zoo! Get your [|own copy] and visit [|Fay's website] to learn more. Get the latest information on the LEGO Mindstorms NXT at //[|The NXT Step Blog]// where Fay and her husband Rick blog regularly.

WSU sponsors a yearly Mindstorms Challenge. The Robot Zoo Exhibit will be debuted at the [|9th Annual Shocker Mindstorms Challenge in Spring 2009].

[|Robotics Projects] is one course offered by [|Wichita State University's College of Education] to help teachers learn more about integrating robotics into their curriculum to support Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teaching and learning. [|The Robotics in the Classroom project] is directed by [|Tonya Witherspoon] and [|Karen Reynolds] and has been funded by grants from Boeing, Spirit, and NSF.

===Our motto is: //"We learn best by doing and making mistakes. Failure is worth full points when you turn failure into success by sharing your problem solving process and what you've learned from your mistakes to teach others!"//===