Education programs for children of different social backgrounds
Elementary School Students of Ethiopian Origin Fifth and sixth graders, who take part in MadaTech's multi-year program at Haifa's Gavrielli School, participate in a series of road safety-related robotics sessions.
Soviet Immigrant Students from Haifa's Bosmat-Mofet Junior High School take part in robotics programs at Madatech within two frameworks:
(a) An annual course for excelling eighth and ninth graders.
(b) Robot construction for the First Lego League Competition.
Unique science projects for girls
Excelling Junior High School Girls from the Greater Haifa Area over 100 ninth grade girl students, take part in year-long afternoon science and technology sessions, participate in five concentrated days of robotics. Girls receive an expanded introduction on state-of-the-art robotics and are exposed to robots operating in real-life environments and how they function, including a NAO Robot, an autonomous, programmable, medium-sized humanoid robot, developed by Aldebaran Robotics; and an iRobot, developed by the iRobot Corporation, which vacuums surfaces.
Further, the girls will continue with more advanced robotics sessions, including learning from analogies between robotic models and natural phenomena. They will use Pico Cricket kits to construct robots and also learn how to establish communication, using IR and other sensors--through study of communication modes in nature, such as those used by fireflies, which communicate with each other and attract mates by producing flashes of light.
Working with gifted students
Gifted Elementary & Junior High School Students Eighteen sessions for 100 fourth to sixth graders, comprising 20 students in each group; and twelve sessions for 40 seventh and eighth graders. This is a three-year program, whose content is incremental.
Kindergarten to Fourth Graders Construct programmable animals, through which they learn about their behavior (for example, an alligator that emits sounds and is motorized to open and close its jaws--with motion sensor feedback which allows it to react to food) and the analogy between animal sensor systems responsible for that behavior and electronic sensor systems. Classes can choose one, or a series of ten sessions within the framework of morning class visits and an annual school project.
Two robotics workshops middle school students with once-a-week meetings at the MadaTech, in which they design, build, and program robots using LEGO bricks and RCX microprocessor. Both workshops use the robotics environment and activities in order to introduce students to the issue of road safety, which is of high social concern in Israel.
Unique Programs for Robotics The Gelfand Center range of robotics' programs is highly prestigious, challenging and attractive.
MadaTech has launched a series of courses and workshops, demonstrating innovations in this prestigious realm, developing and constructing robotic models and their applications in this exciting world of advanced technology.
Robotics Courses for elementary and junior high school students In MadaTech's diverse robotics courses, students get to know Isaac Asmiov's Laws of Robotics; acquire assembly skills; learn the analogy between robots and animal bodies; become acquainted with sensors of diverse types--their structure, as well as the principles behind them and their use in automated machines; and gain experience in algorithm development. Team work teaches kids to regard the considerations of others, with respect; to seek alternative solutions; to divide the tasks at hand among team members; to enhance their self-criticism and to develop a critical approach to their teammates' input and work.
Kindergarten to Third Grade Educational Program aims to expose youngsters to advanced technological developments, through adventures, games and practical and intellectual experiences; allowing them to experience, first-hand, the basics of programming, engineering, and construction.
Robotics activities for these age groups are based on Lego WeDo Education kits that enable both guided and independent activities. The combination of the two allows for the gradual development of flexible thinking, in accordance with each student's personal abilities; and leaves students to decide on ways to implement their scientific learning. This also helps create a clear link between the virtual (computers and programming) and physical worlds (as represented by models).
Robotic Frameworks for Everyone
A variety of students, aged 6-18, of differing backgrounds and geographic locations, take part in MadaTech robotics activities. All programs comprise individual sessions, as well as courses of 10, 15 or 25 sessions.
Students take a robotics course, strengthened by demonstrations and hands-on laboratory experiments in relevant fields, such as light and radiation, simple machines and mechanics, green energy and alike. The more advanced among them engage in robots in the service of road safety and construct electrically operated vehicles, using solar cells and condensers. The course includes video documentation on the process prepared by the students. Further, they perform applied research on the robot they have constructed according to learnt technological scientific content in the course.
Students also experience pertinent MadaTech interactive exhibits, such as the Leonardo Da Vinci Exhibition - where they can operate diverse types of transmissions; the Road Safety Exhibition, and more.
