My engineering
students enjoy learning about new innovations in the field of robotics – even
the students who are not studying robotic engineering. And I find that many
robotic innovations relate to many different areas of engineering, e.g.,
biomedical, electrical, mechanical as well as software programming.
An interesting
article I used in class recently is, “New Breed of Robotics Aims to Help People
Walk Again” from The New York Times (September 11, 2012). In addition to
a discussion about the topic, I used it to help students identify technical
vocabulary and guide them in writing a short process description.
Link to article:
In addition to
reading the article before the lesson, the students had to prepare the
following tasks:
- Make a list of nouns and verbs that you think are relevant for a process description of the Ekso. Include accompanying adjectives and/or prepositions.
- Focus on those areas of the text that describe some part of the Ekso. In class we will choose appropriate linking words to combine these sections to make one complete process description.
- Make a note of the features of the article that help a non-technical audience understand what it is and how it works.
- Focusing on the first six paragraphs, identify the verb tenses used. What “rules” can you notice about the use of these tenses? (This group had already had a review of the verb tenses featured in the article, but this information could also be make into a separate lesson on the uses of the present, present progressive, past, and present perfect tenses.)
This kind of work can
be done with other articles about a new innovation in your students’
engineering field.
For another text
on robotic engineering (with suggestions) see my Post 19: Cheetah Robot text to improve reading skills.
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