Students ages 11 to 14 explored robotics and engineering through hands-on activities during Northwestern State University’s Robotics Camp on July 2. The free, one-day camp introduced participants to engineering concepts while encouraging creativity, collaboration and problem-solving.
Hosted by NSU’s Department of Engineering Technology, the camp brought students to the Friedman Student Union Ballroom for a full day of robotics activities and demonstrations led by faculty and staff. The camp was supported by the Natchitoches Parish A+ Coalition.
Dr. Shahriar Hossain, department head of Engineering Technology, said the camp introduces middle and early high school students to engineering through hands-on learning while helping them build teamwork and problem-solving skills.
“They will be working in groups, building team cohesiveness and collaboration. Those are the interpersonal skills they are building,” Hossain said. “They’re struggling to figure out which circuit or electric line goes where and how to put in the batteries. They’re solving real practical issues.”
Throughout the day, campers worked together to solve engineering challenges by building a solar-powered tree house, assembling a Bluetooth-controlled robotic car and creating a confetti cannon to demonstrate concepts such as motors and elasticity. The activities encouraged students to apply critical thinking and problem-solving skills to real-world engineering concepts.
Jacob Bynog of Natchitoches, a student worker at the camp and an engineering student at Northwestern State, said campers may come for the excitement of building robots, but they leave with a better understanding of the engineering concepts behind them and how those ideas apply to the world around them.
“For kids, robots are cool, but they don’t understand the mechanics behind them or the engineering behind them,” Bynog said. “They’re expecting to just have fun, but they’re really going to understand when they go home, ‘Hey, I learned how solar energy works.’ Learning how the things around us in industry work, they can use that.”
Patricia Vets, whose son Benjamin participated in the camp, said experiences like Robotics Camp help students explore their interests while building relationships with others who share those passions.
“Opportunities like this are important for students because it gives them an opportunity to interact with other kids that have similar interests, to be able to communicate with them and start honing those skills early on,” Vets said. “He’s going into junior high, and he wants to participate in the robotics program there. His brother is a participant in that program also, so it sparked an interest in him, and this is a way to feed it.”
Northwestern State’s Department of Engineering Technology offers programs that prepare students for careers in manufacturing, electronics, construction, automation and related industries through classroom instruction and hands-on laboratory experiences.
Additional information about the Department of Engineering Technology is available at nsula.edu/engrtech.