Watch CBS News

City Students Compete In Robotics Competition

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A five-week summer program focused on math and technology leads to a robotics competition for hundreds of city students.

As Gigi Barnett explains, the goal is to fight the summer learning slide.

You can call these robots math projects that move.

"The sticks on the side, we had to put them in a specific place so the angle is correct," said Autumn Johnson. "So it's like geometry."

Or maybe it's more technology. Whatever you call it, most students and teachers at the citywide Jump Start Robotics tournament have one word for it: fun. And that's the lure.

"I've never learned how to build a robot," said one student.

Students spend five weeks in a class learning how to build the robots using science, engineering, technology and math---also called STEM. That does two things: helps them retain what they learned during the school year and keeps them interested.

"They're not doing it because it's STEM. They're doing it because it's fun. It's technology. It's cool. They get to play with toys they never go to play with before," said Joshua Gabrielse, city science specialist.

There are more than 100 teams at the tournament. the one to beat is last year's reigning champs. They call themselves CAS, for Cameron, Autumn and Skye. All girls, all brains.

More than 300 students participated.

Other Local News:

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.