Students who completed Robotics 1 in seventh grade now have the option to take the Advanced Robotics course in eighth grade to further their experience and knowledge in STEM. The first Advanced Robotics class was created last year as a trial, and it succeeded.

“There weren’t really a lot of STEM-related class options open to kids who really, really liked doing science,” robotics teacher Jill Whitacre said.

Whitacre wanted to create a higher level class to expand students’ knowledge in coding and problem solving.

“Students learn all about the sensors in Robotics 1 and it takes them the whole year to learn them and apply them,” Whitacre said. “Once they’ve done that there is so much more that you can do. It was a shame they couldn’t go any further.”

Whitacre proposed the idea to administration and wrote proposals to PTA to get money to have enough robots to create the Advanced Robotics class.

“This would be such a good thing to offer,” Whitacre said. “I wrote up a proposal, went to the PTA and they funded it.”

In the Advanced Robotics class the students cover material more in depth.

“In Robotics 1 you learn the basics and the different blocks to program,” Nishna P. (8) said. “In Advanced Robotics you kind of get deeper into it and there are way more challenges that we do with a little more difficulty.”

Completing challenges is more difficult and involves more problem solving.

“I like the feeling when I’ve figured something out all on my own which is encouraged in Mrs. Whitacre’s class,” Bonnie R. (8) said.

By Abby Hedrick

Editor’s note: Brevard Public Schools policy prohibits the inclusion of middle-schoolers’ last names on district-sponsored websites.