Battle Creek 5th-graders try out underwater robot at center

By Justin A. Hinkley Battle Creek Enquirer BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) -- It looked like a scene from "Titanic," or maybe a Jacques Cousteau special, the robotic eye capturing the weeds and muck and bubbles as it zipped through the water. On Friday, fifth-grade students from Dudley STEM School laughed and shouted at the Outdoor Education Center as they manned the controls of the electric, underwater robot. The controls were in the back of a sport utility vehicle on the shore; the robot was zipping through Clear Lake about 50 yards away. A flatscreen TV in the back of the SUV showed the students what the robot saw as they plowed it through the weeds and sand at the lake's bottom. "This is a real, hands-on learning experience," said Mark Gleason, chief marine scientist of the Muskegon-based Great Lakes Naval Memorial & Museum. "I've had a robot just like this at the bottom of Lake Superior. ... This is a real tool used for real research." About 200 yards away, inside the camp's main cabin, other Dudley students tried to figure out how they could assemble plastic tubing, strips of foam, tape, wires and electric motors into robots of their own. Gary Reynolds, the museum's scouting liaison and tour guide, helped them. At one table, John Love, J'Lyn Butler, Jada Burke and Dakota Marcus, all 10 years old, worked the pieces, trial and error, trying to find the right combination. "It's fun; it's educational," Butler said. "It's cool to build stuff and know how it all works," Marcus said. "It's hard, but it's fun," Love said. "I would love to do this as a job." And that sentiment is exactly what their teacher, Essence Williamson, and other backers of the Dudley STEM School want to hear. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math, and several changes at the school this year are meant to provide hands-on learning experiences and encourage students to learn for innovative careers. "This really fits into the STEM vision," Williamson said. "It's giving them a huge opportunity to work together, and it's giving them a taste of what our school will eventually be doing." Amy Cherry, director of the Outdoor Education Center, said Friday marked the first time a local school had participated in the museum program. "The kids don't even realize they're using all they've learned from school while they're doing this," Reynolds said. "To them, it's just fun." Published: Wed, Oct 26, 2011