Robots to the Rescue

Our 4th grade students have an extra special passion for environmentalism. Last year, they embarked on a year-long project to raise awareness about plastic waste. They built a website, wrote persuasive letters, and even won the attention and support of Manhattan Borough President, Gale Brewer—who visited the School and praised their efforts.

This year, the students are equally passionate. For several months, they have been working in groups to research, prototype, and build actual robots that can skim a body of water to remove waste such as oil and plastic. On Monday morning, they invited their parents and fellow Lower School students to view their inventions in action and learn about how they managed the design engineering process from the beginning—brainstorming, building, coding, testing, and finally prototyping. Each group had a station to demonstrate their robot and answer questions about the lengthy process they undertook to arrive at their final design.