Northeastern University Intern Shares a Unique STEM Mentorship at Madison Park
A new STEM class is being piloted at Madison Park Technical High School. Cardinal Works, which is adapted from theMIT LL Beaver Works RACECAR curriculum, is currently being taught to a small group of juniors at the school. Theclass meets every other week for about two hours per day, led by Mr. Berger. It will culminate in the students racing autonomous cars that they have designed and programmed themselves, and I am excited to be a part of the effort.
A Little About Me
My name is Ishika Choudhary, and I am a fourth-year student at Northeastern University studying Computer Scienceand Mathematics. This is my final semester, and I am happy to be an intern for the Cardinal Works program while Ifinish up my classes. I’ve been a teaching assistant for computer science classes at Northeastern for about two years but working at Madison Park has provided me with a new experience.
Teaching Our Class Python
So far, the students have learned the basics of Python. This will be necessary for when theybegin programming the cars. Working on Python with a younger age group has been a fun challenge for me after working with college students. I’ve had to explain concepts in a simpler way, which in turn has made me gain a deeper understanding. You need to understand a subject well in order to make it easier and teach it! It’s also been rewarding to help the students; I love to see them grasp the concept and apply it themselves. Additionally, since the class is small it’s easy to walk around to help the students and feel like I’ve helped them accomplish something by the end of the day.
Our Cardinal Works Students Learn to Design & Cut Their Robotic Vehicles
As much as I love Python, I think my (and the students’) favorite part so far has been designing the chassis of the car. This has been our latest lesson, and the students have learned to use Cuttle.xyz to design the sides and bottom of their cars. In the following weeks, we will laser cut the designs and assemble the cars! From sports cars to the Spongebob Patty Mobile, they have been very creative with this task. I think it is making them more interested in the program as they are building out something that they like. This part of the process has also been completely new for me. As a computer science major, I rarely see the engineering side of things, but it’s been a great experience for meas well learning the Cuttle software. I’m excited to build the cars in the following weeks and get some experience with that as well!
I recommend this program to any college students who have some extra time and are looking to teach. It does require some patience, but I personally love seeing the outcomes. Also, I’m very excited to work with the cars since I don’thave much experience with robotics and autonomous vehicles. As much as I am helping in the classroom, I’m learning a lot too!
Ishika Choudhary
choudhary.i@northeastern.edu
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