Written by Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco
Business Mirror
03 March 2013
THE Department of Education (DepEd) welcomed with pride two teams that represented the country in the 2012 World Robotics Olympiad (WRO) where they won the gold and silver medals. DepEd officials expressed confidence that the team the country fields in this year’s edition of the Robotics Olympiad will retain the crown.
Education Undersecretary for Plans and Programs Yolanda Quijano personally welcomed the winning teams composed of students from the Dr. Yanga Colleges Inc. (DYCI) in Bocaue, Bulacan and the Grace Christian College (GCC) in Quezon City in a simple ceremony at the DepEd Central Office recently. The teams brought with them their innovative robotic inventions that won them the gold and silver awards held in November in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Quijano paid tribute to the students for besting some 405 teams from 30 countries worldwide, citing the expertise of Filipino students in science and technology.
“This is something that we should be proud of, especially since we bagged the first and second place in the competition. This is not the first time, though, that our team won the top awards,” Quijano said, adding that “I know that this year, we will also bag the top honors.”
Mylene Abiva, national organizer of the Philippine Robotics Olympiad, said the country also won the top award (gold) in 2007 and in 2010 when the country hosted the event.
Abiva said the team from DYCI composed of students Claire Receli Renosa, Trisha Carmela Santos and Chelsea Andrea Morales and their coach Romyr Gimeno and director Michael Yanga won the gold medal while the silver medal was awarded to the GCC team composed of students Patricia Ong, Josh Daniel Ong, Calvin Alexander Yu-Ng, their coach, Melanie Tizon and Wareen Ong Pe and supervisor Lucy Sia.
The DYCI team presented their winning robotic invention dubbed H.E.R.O (Humanoid for Educational Reinforcement Operation), a robot whose aim is to effectively connect with people through education.
The robot clad with recycled materials made from discarded aluminum and peanut-butter bottle caps can mimic facial expressions; play rock, paper and scissors game; and be used as visual aids for students. Moreover, it has a feature called Stratified Learning Evaluation Scheme, where students learn the basics of English, science and mathematics through video lessons aided by puppets.
The GCC team presented their I-Learn (Interactive Learning with Exciting and Advanced Robot Navigation) robot which they said offers alternative learning through interactive activities to help students develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Among these activities are Codebreaker which is a teasing activity for students that challenges their logical reasoning and thinking skills; and Hotshots, a lively activity youngsters can use to master counting and recognition of basic colors.
In a related development, both Quijano and Abiva said contrary to perception that only private institutions can afford to participate in such competitions, public schools have actively participated in the elimination round for the Philippine Robotics Olympiad.
No comments:
Post a Comment