PROGRAMS
FRC Quiet Rooms
In partnership with GeorgiaFIRST, G3 piloted fully-stocked quiet rooms at all PCH FRC events in the 2020 season. Quiet rooms are a space designated for those who need a break from the often overwhelming atmosphere of FRC competitions, especially students with special needs or mental health conditions. Our information pamphlets about the Quiet Rooms contain information about how to improve communication with students with special needs in order to improve awareness throughout FRC.
Engineering@Home
Since we cannot host in-person events anymore due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have created a series of STEM-related experiments which use common household objects, so young students can continue to explore engineering and technology right from their living room. We piloted this program by providing activity kits to 16 Midtown students in the special education program, and soon plan to expand it to many more families.
Adaptive Maker Faires
We host Adaptive Maker Faire events at our school, where students have a chance to drive our robot, fly our drones, and explore a variety of STEM and sensory activities. The activities are specially designed to work with the children’s sensory, communicative, and mobility needs. The events are also an opportunity to train our volunteers in working with children with special needs. We have partnered with the MDE School, FOCUS + Fragile Kids, and Midtown’s own special education program on events of this type.
Classroom STEM Lessons
G3 hosts monthly STEM lessons in our school’s special education classrooms. These lessons introduce the students to our team and help them discover a passion for STEM. Regular involvement in Midtown special education is an important part of integrating students with special needs onto our team, and at these lessons we encourage students to try out for our team the next school year.
Virtual STEM Lessons
Although we are unable to continue with our in-person outreach due to COVID-19, we host virtual STEM lessons for students with special needs at Midtown and in our community. These lessons are based around digital platforms such as Scratch that are easy for the students to access and teach fundamental principles of computer science. In the future, we plan to expand into lessons involving computer-aided design (CAD), hands-on craft activities, and basic electronics.
EVENTS
Georgia Race for Autism
G3 set up a booth at the Georgia Race for Autism to display our robot and spark an interest in STEM for the attending families. At the event, there was an open race that took place to promote autism acceptance, and our team set out Snap Circuits, a Popsicle stick catapult craft station, and K’nex for the attendees to use.
