At Glen Urquhart School in Beverly, MA sixth grader students design and engineer robotic Mars Rovers out of Lego systems. Students research NASA and they use Mars Curiosity Rover - Jet Propulsion Laboratory to select such tasks as: find evidence of water, drill for samples, move Mars rocks, and communicate with NASA.
The students are asked to design the next rover, choose its specific tasks, and write the programming code they will use to test their mission. They are encouraged to modify, through trial and error, their robots and programming code until they accomplish their goals.
“It’s frustrating,” explains science teacher Jo Slavitz. “Many times, the rover doesn’t work as they’d hoped. But that frustration helps them problem solve and learn that things don’t always work as you’d like them to the first time. With the release of the movie The Martian and recent NASA footage, the students are over the moon to complete this mission.”
At Glen Urquhart School, world-class academics and a world-wise curriculum help young minds that are open to everything develop into exceptional global citizens who are ready for anything.
Glen Urquhart School, originally the North Shore Middle School, was founded in 1977 by Lynne Warren. The impetus for the founding of the school was a desire to provide an educational program that goes beyond traditional schooling and aims at integration of intellectual, creative, and aesthetic learning. Glen Urquhart School is a co-educational, independent day school for grades K through 8 with a tradition of excellence since 1977.Small student/teacher ratio
- Two teachers in each lower school classroom
- Innovative math curriculum
- Integrated, thematic curriculum
- State of the art technology
- Award winning community service program
Glen Urquhart School encourages children to:
- Explore their intellects and develop their imaginations,
- Pose questions as often as they devise solutions,
- Speak individually yet work collaboratively,
- Discover the best within themselves,
- Respect all people and value their differences,
- Act responsibly in our community and in the world
Learn more about all that Glen Urquhart School has to offer by attending an open classroom event.