Science educators from across the state used their newly acquired skills to maneuver underwater remotely operated vehicles through obstacles, including the tunnel of doom, on the bottom of the Civic Center pool Saturday.
Eight groups of three science teachers attended a two-day workshop offered by the TCAPS Sci-Ma-Tech program, in conjunction with The Great Lakes Water Studies Institute, where they learned to build an underwater ROV, incorporate it into their classroom curriculum and finally test what they had built below the surface of the pool.
"The object of the workshop is to enable these teachers to go back to their school, recycle the parts we have provided, and have their kids do what they have learned here,” said Sci-Ma-Tech physics teacher, Keith Forton.
Forton, who has been using ROV construction in his classroom for three years, found after sharing his successes with fellow science educators that they were eager to follow his lead.
"The challenges of building these vehicles, like maintaining neutral buoyancy and using motor controls and optics, fit very well with the physics curriculum,” said Forton, whose students have participated in the Great Lakes region Marine Advanced Technology Education competition for ROV construction the past two years.
Forton, along with representatives from the Convergence Education Foundation, The Great Lakes Water Institute and the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, led an evening of instruction in ROV design, control box construction, motor and prop assembly, assembly of the tether and using the optical and viewing system. The teachers then set out to construct, trouble shoot and test their own ROVs.
"It is amazing how responsive these vehicles are,” said Grand Traverse Academy physics teacher, John Belis as he ran the vehicle through its paces.
"We will definitely be using this in our classrooms,” said Belis, who plans to reassemble the unit with his students.
"It is great, too, because everything is reusable. We go home from here and have the ability to use this in our classrooms,” Belis noted.