This blog post is about an awesome lesson I learned at the Museum of Science during our SF class field trip. It all started with the story of 6 year old Devon.

Devon has a serious allergy problem and is allergic to nearly everything. His allergies are so bad that it is not safe for him to even attend school like a normal kid his age. The amazing part is that even though he can’t personally be in class at all times, he can still attend school and learn as if he was. This is because of a robot called the VGO. Through the robot, Devon is able to go to all his classes, and even sit with friends during lunch in the cafeteria. Devon does all of this in the safety of his own home, by using the VGO software which allows him to control the robots movement and even projects his face onto a screen so that he is always in the classroom. The VGO has the screen where it shows Devon’s face to his teachers and classmates, and a camera and microphone so that Devon can see what is happening around him. He uses the robot to answer questions, talk with friend, listen to teacher’s explain topics, and even hang out with friends in the cafeteria.

What made the robot story so cool was the way that they explained it. Under normal circumstances, a general discussion about robotics, how they work and key functions isn’t usually very exciting. Had the scientists at the Museum of Science used really big words, or not presented the back story to the robot, I would not have enjoyed the presentation and probably wouldn’t have learned anything at all
Once they had laid the foundation, they began explaining how exactly it functions. But they didn’t just sit at the front of the room and lecture about fancy robotic devices, they used the actual robot to explain. They did a demonstration and even offered members of the audience to participate. This is the key to presenting an experiment that is both engaging and informative. This blog post is supposed to be about what I learned at the MOS that will help enhance our experiment. I learned a valuable lesson, to maintain the viewers interest, and explain it in common language. I believe that when I apply this lesson to my project, we will see kids having fun and learning some awesome things.. What made the presentation memorable, and made it possible to learn from was all in the way it was presented. The presentation started out with the back story. Getting the viewers interested is the most important part. If you can make people interested, they will be able to learn. They presented a video which showed the robot in use, and explained how Devon made use of it.