'Renton Teachers win Golden Apple Award'

by Linda Woo, South County Journal Reporter

September 2001 - RENTON -- Lindbergh High School teachers Geof Newing and Larry Richter say their greatest invention is the robotics course they developed at the school 10 years ago. The popular course culminates in a regional robotics competition that has become a legacy for students long after they’ve graduated.

“My friends who graduated really liked the class,” said a Lindbergh senior. “You learn a lot and you make cool stuff. I took the class last year, so this year I actually get to play and do things for myself.”

The course, Principles of Technology/Robotics, is one of 10 winners of the annual Golden Apple Awards, which recognize outstanding people and programs in education around Washington state.

“It’s a program that needs recognition,” Lindbergh Principal Jim Kriner said of the robotics course, which he nominated for the awards. The awards were sponsored by Seattle public-television station KCTS and Pemco Financial Services. The course will receive the Stanley O. McNaughton Award, named for Pemco’s late CEO, when the awards are presented in January.

Students are enrolled in the robotics class, which is an elective, for an entire year. They work on a series of projects that become more complex and require different tools over time. The projects include designing and building moving mobiles, mousetrap racecars, sumo-wrestling robots and compressed-air generators.
The final project requires teams of students to design and build a robot that goes one-on-one against the robot of another team. Over the years, the competition has grown to include 15 high schools and 125 teams from as far away as Concrete and Ferndale.

The idea is to get students “out of their comfort zone,” Richter said. Many of the students aren’t used to working around drill presses and milling machines, so the goal is to get them comfortable enough so they can think creatively. “We’re here as a resource, but if they come up and say, ‘How do I do it?’ we’ll say, ‘I don't know. Why don't you do some research,’” Newing said. “We want to them to break down barriers and get over, ‘I can't do it’ because they can and we'll help them.”

Kriner said Lindbergh’s science enrollment reflects the impact the robotics class has had. Many students take two science classes in a year so they can take robotics in both their junior and senior years. (Students typically take biology, chemistry and physics before being allowed to enroll in the robotics class.)

Richter and Newing are seasoned teachers in the Renton School District -- Richter, a physics teacher, is in his 29th year; Newing, in his 28th year, is a graphic arts teacher. They look for ways to keep their program fresh for students, drawing on each other's strengths to continually improve their program. This year, they plan to have their advanced students get a taste of artificial intelligence work by programming an interactive toy dog to do specific tasks. Students say Richter and Newing are great motivators. Both are enthusiastic and passionate about their craft. Even though students rave about how much they like the robotics class, none of them says it's because they think Richter and Newing are easy on them. Already, the class has paid off for students. A former student now studying theater arts in graduate school recently returned to tell Richter and Newing the robotics class was the most useful course she has ever taken. She now works with lights and power tools and designs sets without any hesitation.