Synopsis

The 3rd UC Davis C-STEM Day was held on Saturday May 4, 2013. The 2013 C-STEM Day was organized by the UC Davis Center for Integrated Computing and STEM Education (C-STEM) and College of Engineering with help from the UC Davis Computing and Robotics Outreach Club as well as 16 HP volunteers serving as judges for RoboPlay Competition. The 2013 C-STEM Day included two events: RoboPlay Challenge Competition and Math Programming Competition. More than 70 teams registered to participate in these competitions.

RoboPlay Competition

RoboPlay Competition is an open-ended design challenge. The goal of the RoboPlay Competition is to broaden student participation in computing, science, technology, engineering, and math (C-STEM) education with positive development for all students. The RoboPlay teamwork will engage all students including those who might otherwise be inclined to pursue careers in the arts or humanities.

RoboPlay Challenge Competition
The RoboPlay Challenge Competition is designed for students to showcase their real-world problem solving skills in a competitive environment. This competition simulates an unexpected problem occurring at a remote location such as a space station or planetary habitat, where a robotic solution must be quickly developed and deployed, using only existing resources. The competition challenges students to creatively use modular robots and accessories to complete various tasks. The competition arena and specific challenge will be kept secret until the day of the competition. Using their math, programming, and problem solving skills, students try to most efficiently get the highest score for each task.

More photos with high resolution are available on C-STEM Flickr page and other relevant links

RoboPlay Video Competition

RoboPlay Video Competition is designed for K-12 students to play with robots while exploring their creativity in writing, art, music, choreography, design, and film making and at the same time seamlessly learn C-STEM subjects. The handling of robot coordination between multiple modules and music requires not only teamwork in designing a well-organized visual performance but also the math and programming skills to produce the desired actions for robots. The competitions will enable students working in different interest groups to explore the basic concepts of C-STEM in conjunction with their artistic and music talents. To participate in the RoboPlay Video Competition, students create a video showcasing the unique capabilities of Mobots.

More videos

Math Programming Competition

The Secondary School Math Programming Competition provides students in secondary schools with the opportunity to apply their fundamental computer programming skills for applications in mathematics. Being the gatekeeper to STEM careers, mathematics is necessary for all secondary school students. This competition challenges students to apply their programming skills to solve math problems. Students will use structured programming in C, including basic programming concepts such as variables, math expressions and operators, selection statements, and loops for computer-aided math problem solving.

Awards Ceremony

The C-STEM Day was concluded with the awards ceremony for students. Professor Harry H. Cheng, Director of the C-STEM Center presented the UC Davis C-STEM Awards to K-12 students for their exceptional work in C-STEM education. The C-STEM Awards recipients in the northern California region were nominated by their teachers or school administrators and selected by the C-STEM Awards Committee consisting of UC Davis faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students. Three types of C-STEM awards were presented at the ceremony.

C-STEM Award of Achievement
The C-STEM Award of Achievement recognizes middle-school students for their demonstrated outstanding performance on computing and its applications in STEM subjects. An award recipient shall show great promise for continued education in computing or computing related STEM fields. The awards this year were given to

• Kirandeep Baath, Westmore Oaks Elementary School, Washington Unified School District
• Samantha Backus, Bridgeway Island Elementary School, Washington Unified School District
• Amy Liao, Bridgeway Island Elementary School, Washington Unified School District
• Peter Milam, School of Engineering and Sciences, Sacramento City Unified School District

Kirandeep Baath Westmore Oaks Elementary School West Sacramento

Samantha Backus Bridgeway Island Elementary School West Sacramento

Amy Liao Bridgeway Island Elementary School West Sacramento

Peter Milam School of Engineering and Sciences Sacramento

C-STEM Award of Excellence
The C-STEM Award of Excellence recognizes high-school students for their demonstrated excellent performance on computing and its applications in STEM subjects. An award recipient shall be motivated and shows exceptional promise for pursuing post-secondary study in computing or computing-related STEM fields. An award recipient not only excels, but also helps others actively participate in computing and computing-related activities in STEM fields. This year’s C-STEM Award of Excellence was awarded to

• Tarang Tandel, River City High School, Washington Unified School District

Tarang Tandel River City High School West Sacramento

C-STEM Scholarship
The UC Davis C-STEM Scholarship is for college-bound seniors in the northern California region for their exceptional achievement on C-STEM and pursuing computing related post-secondary study in a university. Each scholarship award is $500. Award recipients are selected by the C-STEM Awards Committee consisting of UC Davis faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students. The award this year is sponsored by the Sandia National Laboratories. Michael Hardwick, Deputy Director of Advanced Weapon Systems Engineering at Sandia National Laboratories presented the award to

• Kevin Chen, Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton Unified School District

Kevin Chen Amador Valley High School Pleasanton

Winners of the Math Programming Competition

1st Place, Team Name: Cream Puffs Leslie Tanaka Matthew Novatay Andrey Kurudimov School: School of Engineering and Sciences Adviser: Thom Bauser

2nd Place, Team Name: Donuts Rober DeYong Denys Hlyeb Tabias Dahlberg School: School of Engineering and Sciences Adviser: Thom Bauser

3rd Place, Team Name: Math Team 2 Austin McConnell Liam Stack Andrew Hinton School: Bridgeway Island Elementary School Adviser: Megan Schoellhamer

Winners of the RoboPlay Video Competition for Middle Schools

Best StorySchool: Westmore Oaks Elementary School Video Title: The Race

Best ChoreographySchool: Elkhorn Village Elementary School Video Title: Elkhorn Wedding Story

Most Interesting TaskSchool: American Canyon Middle School Video Title: Star Wars Mobots

Best Overall VideoSchool: Elkhorn Village Elementary School Video Title: Elkhorn Wedding Story

Winners of the RoboPlay Video Competition for High Schools

Winners of the RoboPlay Challenge Competition for Middle Schools

1st Place Team Name: Team Elkhorn A Karla Flores Kenia Luna Chris Castillo Juan Soto School: Elkhorn Village Middle School Adviser: Carmen Wright

2nd Place Team Name: Robot Team 2 Amy Liao Samantha Backus Emily Xu Zachary Gulcher School: Bridgeway Island Elementary School Adviser: Megan Schoellhamer

3rd Place Team Name: Holmes Pirates Wesley Aptekar-Cassels Kyle Qi Kyle Stachowicz David Yu School: O.W. Holmes Jr. High School Adviser: Jennifer Sommer

Winners of the RoboPlay Challenge Competition for High Schools

1st Place Team Name: River City High School Michael Miller Teresa Fernandez Jordan Criswell Abijah Williams Cristian Barrett School: River City High School Adviser: Dubarrie Fagout

2nd Place Team Name: Highlands Scots Vikram Saroay Patrick Ruiz Ming Tian School: Highlands High School Adviser: Dan Sisneros

3rd Place Team Name: Fembots 1.0 Alexandra Bittle Zaire Johnson Katiana Camacho-Villalon Isabella Lee School: St. Francis High School Adviser: Heidi Espindola