4-H IN LOUISVILLE USES THIS HANDS-ON TECHNOLOGY TO TEACH YOUTH STEM SKILLS
Nationally, nearly 6 million youth participate in 4-H programs.
Louis Milligan, Thompson's 4-H agent colleague based in Louisville, has been working with the McFerran Preparatory Academy in Jefferson County to offer the 4-H robotics program using LEGO EV3 robots to the elementary school students. This program was the first of its kind and engaged 12 students in a weekly after-school initiative where youth learned how to build and program the robots. This team of students competed in a scrimmage with the robots they built and went on to compete in the VEX IQ Robotics Tournament at Marion C. Moore High School in Louisville. The McFerran students placed 36th out of 67 teams in their first time participating in a robotics competition as a team and as a school.
4-H agent Patrice Thompson has met with several schools and community programs in Jefferson County who have expressed the need for STEM education as academic enrichment in their communities. Many of these programs have little to no resource to meet this need. Over the past year, Thompson has worked with more than 100 non-traditional 4-H kids through a grant with the Americana Community Center that targets under-served youth to introduce them to technology.
Robotics is a fun way for kids to learn STEM skills in an active hands-on environment. Robotics is a branch of technology that deals with the making, programming and designing of robots. While many parents find this technology a bit complicated and technical, educators and toy companies have repackaged robotics into something fun and educational, focusing on those key areas of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
This 4-H programming is an important part of KYSU's Cooperative Extension mission. More than 279,450 youth from all across Kentucky—approximately 35 percent of the K-12 population—participate in 4-H. Nationally, nearly 6 million youth participate in 4-H programs.
Kentucky State University's (KYSU) Cooperative Extension Program houses a flourishing 4-H program and agents based in Jefferson County are building an intriguing STEM education program using LEGO Robotics, OzoBots, and an innovative Tech Wizards program. Tech Wizards is a mentoring program for youth ages 6 to 18 who are interested in emerging technology as a way of involving under-represented children and their families in learning basic life and workforce skills and aspiring to post-secondary education, productive jobs and careers, and community engagement.