Author: angelawiz

During the most recent Wiz Prodigy Competition, a group of girls from Girls Inc. Northern Alberta took us on a journey “to the moon” with their Wiz Prodigy Space Rover. We had an opportunity to chat with them on their STEM learning experience through the competition with the hopes of inspiring more like-minded youths.

Back in March 2022, we wrote a blog post highlighting to the continuous gender equality problem in STEM fields. In order to combat this issue for the future generation, we pointed out that:

Correcting negative perceptions and eliminate biases at a young age can help students embrace STEM. This will give students an opportunity to take up an interest in STEM and provide them with ample time to learn more throughout their academic years.

There are a few important organizations out there that advocates for gender equality in STEM and empowers girls to succeed.

Introducing Girls Inc.

Girls Inc. is a nonprofit organization that encourages all girls to be “Strong, Smart, and Bold”. Their Operation SMART program seeks to motivate girls to achieve educational and career goals, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Having heard about this amazing organization, we were more than thrilled to learn that three students from the Girls Inc. of Norther Alberta in Canada participated in the most recent Wiz Prodigy Competition!

Meet the Team Girls Inc. of Northern Alberta

The Girls Inc. team at the Wiz Prodigy Competition was made up of three enthusiastic students eager to learn more about robotics and coding.

Their space rover was cool galaxy-themed and constructed from cardboard for its light weightiness and sturdiness. They had used wooden wheels, dowels and beads as a wheel mechanism for the wagon to complete one of the competition challenges and popsicle sticks as a hitch to connect the wagon to the rover.

We had the opportunity to sit down with the three participants Tanishka, Willow, and Parinika, along with Abby — the Senior Coordinator of Girls Inc. Northern Alberta to chat about their experience with the competition.

Q: What are your thoughts on the Wiz Prodigy Competition?

Willow: It was nice working in a team. Since this was my first time coding, or doing anything STEM, I thought it was going to be a lot harder. But it was easy (I guess).

Tanishka: It was definitely a great introduction to try something new. It was difficult at first but the tutorials on the Wiz Prodigy platform really helped me understand the concepts. It was easier for us to code our rover.

Q: Was this your first time coding or being in a STEM Competition?

Tanishka: I’ve participated in after school clubs and robotics teams. I’ve competed in robotics teams as well.

Parinika: I’ve taken computer classes and robotics classes in my school. I’ve also done robotics competitions

Q: What was your favourite part about the competition?

Parinika: I enjoyed making the body. It was a fun experience for construction purposes.

Tanishka: I love the programming part because I got to learn many new things I’ve never done before.

Willow: I drew the design of the robot and I liked painting it.

Q: Why do you think it’s important for people to get involved in STEM?

Tanishka: It’s a great thing and it’s really fun to learn and to do. The world is changing really quickly and technology is developing really quickly. If you know a little bit about STEM, it could really help you with your future career and hobby.

Willow: It’s important because you learn lots of things. It’s nice to start something new.

Parinika: It’s important to learn STEM. It’s used to help people in multiple fields. It’s constantly developing.

Q: Are you thinking of pursuing a future in STEM?

Willow: I have no idea what I’m going to be doing. Maybe.

Tanishka: It’s a little early for me to decide what I’m going to be doing in the future but I love software engineering so maybe something about that.

Q: Do you have any advice for students who are thinking about joining the next Wiz Prodigy competition?

Willow: It would be helpful if you know a few things about coding. Because if not, it could be really confusing.

Tanishka: The best advice I could give to someone was “never give up. When we were trying to program our rovers and things didn’t work, we got really frustrated. We encouraged each other and made it to the end.

Parinika: I would say that no matter what program you are facing, try to look for solutions and look for a way to solve the problem.

We enjoyed chatting with the Girls Inc. team. A few key points that we should all take away is that:

• Don’t be afraid to try something new! Even if it might sound daunting at first. Not everyone on the Girls Inc. were experts in STEM. It’s their enthusiasm that made it a great learning experience
• Don’t give up when faced with obstacles! Who said coding and robotics will be easy? It’s always important to work through the problems because that’s the best way to learn.
• It’s okay to experiment! You never know until you try it out.

Special thanks to Willow, Tanishka, Parinika, and Abby for sharing their experience with the Wiz Prodigy Competition and advice for future participants!

Watch the interview video below

Going beyond STEM Competitions

At Wiz Robotics, our STEM classes offer exciting and engaging opportunities for students to practice problem solving.

Try a demo class and see for yourself!

About Girls Inc. Operation SMART

The Girls Inc. experience empowers girls to succeed. Girls Inc. provides girls with trusting mentoring relationships, a girls-only environment, and research-based, hands-on programming. Three critical goals drive our programming: to help girls achieve healthy lives, succeed academically, and acquire the life skills needed to prepare them for adulthood.

Girls Inc. Operation SMART develops girls’ enthusiasm for and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Through hands-on activities, girls explore, ask questions, persist, and solve problems. By interacting with women and men pursuing STEM careers, girls come to view these careers as exciting and realistic options for themselves.

Girls Inc. Operation SMART is an approach that each organization can apply to its own programming. Girls Inc. organizations may also implement one or more of the following components that have been built around the SMART philosophy.

Learn more about the Girls Inc. Operation SMART here.

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If you have been following the Wiz Prodigy Competition, you might be aware that we have concluded the submission phase two weeks ago. We are now super excited to continue with prepping the grand finale of the competition.

We have one more exciting judge joining our panel and we can’t wait for you to meet her!

Introducing…

Chikodili Odinakachukwu!

Chikodili is currently a Vehicle Infotainment Developer. She holds an Honors Bachelors Degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Ontario Tech University and kickstarted her professional career in her role at General Motors Canada, working at the core of creating and delivering safe, quality, and reliable customer facing software products.

Our full roster of judges for the Wiz Prodigy Competition can be found here:

Stela Ishitani Silva | Siobhan Anderson

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Siobhan Anderson is one of the judges for the 2022 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition!

As we mentioned in our previous blog post, we are introducing another judge for the finale of the 2022 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition!

Meet Siobhan Anderson

Siobhan is a 4th year mechatronics engineering student at Ontario Tech University and external representative of the Ontario Tech Engineering Society. Currently she is working as a mechanical engineering intern in the robotics and space operations division of MDA.

LinkedIn

Siobhan’s background and experiences in robotics and space fields makes her a great fit to be a judge for this year’s Wiz Prodigy Competition. We hope you are as excited as we are to hear more from her.

We are extending the submission deadline for Wiz Prodigy!

The Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition submission deadline is being moved from June 13th, 2022 to June 20th, 2022.

Make sure to get your submissions in on time!

Interested in more Online STEM Competitions?

Well — you are in luck!

We are recruiting for the upcoming Wiz Summer Innovators Coding Competition (WSI) just in time for the summer.

The WSI is a 4-week Roblox Competition where you get to play, learn, and compete. Head on to the WSI website to learn more about this exciting summer program.

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Meet the judges of the 2022 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition. Oh — did we mention NASA?

We are counting down the days to the Wiz Prodigy Competition submissions deadline and we are super excited to introduce you to our line-up of judges!

Drumroll please —

Meet Stela Ishitani Silva

Stela Ishitani Silva is a Brazilian astrophysicist working as a Research Assistant at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and pursuing her Ph.D. in Physics at the Catholic University of America.

In her research, she analyzes the brightness of host stars to detect planets outside of the Solar System. Stela has already co-authored the discovery of ~200 planet candidates and is currently investigating machine learning techniques to facilitate the processes of the detection methods. In 2019, she won the John Mather Nobel Scholar Award for her research at NASA GSFC.

In her free time, Stela likes to draw, sing and play the guitar.

Next up on our judges list is…

Siobhan Anderson

With a background in Mechanical Engineering and experiences at MDA Canada, we are super excited to have Siobhan as one of our judges!

Stay tuned to learn more about Siobhan and more content from the judges!

The finish line is coming up soon!

Wiz Prodigy student participants — make sure to submit your space rover before the submissions deadline and don’t miss out on the opportunities to learn from our amazing judges!

Interested in more Online STEM Competitions?

Well — you are in luck!

We are recruiting for the upcoming Wiz Summer Innovators Coding Competition (WSI) just in time for the summer.

The WSI is a 4-week Roblox Competition where you get to play, learn, and compete. Head on to the WSI website to learn more about this exciting summer program.

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Have you ever wondered how an online STEM Competition such as the Wiz Prodigy Competition and the Wiz Summer Innovator Competition are being judged?

We’ve been busy at Wiz Robotics!

The 2022 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition is well underway and we are just starting to get ready for the Wiz Summer Innovators Roblox Competition (WSI).

(p.s. Did you know that you can still register in the Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition? Register today and you would still have a month to finish!)

Today, we want to talk about a component of the competition that gets overlooked but nonetheless crucial to participants’ success —

The Judging Criteria.

These are a set of guidelines that we have laid out for participants with the goal of guiding them to bring their best work forward.

“… the Wiz judging criteria was crucial in the development of my games and apps. … The Wiz judging criteria are very relevant to the real world of software development. I am tremendously grateful that I was able to experience these elements firsthand, and I believe everyone should follow them when creating their own software projects.”

— Sean, previous WSI participant & Wiz student

Even though the Wiz Prodigy Competition and the WSI Competition are different, they share three core judging criteria in common:

• Technicals
• Design
• Innovation

To give you a better understanding of our expectations, we spoke to previous WSI Competition participants Sean and Leo, who broke these judging criteria down in their own words and shared their experience.

Technicals

We like to think of this as the “backbone” of your creations. We want to see the participant understanding the code and the programs needed to make it work.

Sean: Technicals, taught me to think like an engineer and problem solver. It inspired me to explore new features and solutions through code.

Leo: Things to keep in mind include functionality (does it work?), readability (can I understand it? Is it neat?), and modularity (does each part work on its own, or does it rely on other parts too much?).

As a competitor myself, I would create a brief outline of things to code, create it, and fix any bugs that I find along the way, and find resources (documentation, Stack Overflow) if I need help.

Design

The design of any engineering project requires a plan. We want the participants to show us a well thought-out design as well as considerations and explanations for why they chose their particular design.

In the case of Wiz Prodigy, we want to see the planning from the initial brainstorming process to the final physical Rover model. For WSI, it’s more about the visual appeal.

Leo: As a competitor myself, I would focus on this part once I have the main project done, but when I do, I will think about my theme and add art elements to make the project more immersive.

Sean: … Design, reminded me to plan out my projects and make them aesthetically appealing. It showed me how attractive a beautiful product could be.

A while back, we also wrote about a previous Wiz Prodigy Competition participant’s experience. Read more about how Jason’s design and planning process went for his Cybertruck.

Innovation

We want our participants to think outside of the box! Ideally, participants should be creative and show uses of technology and ideas that are not in the tutorials provided through our Wiz learning platform, but still relevant to the theme of the competition.

Sean: It encouraged me to think outside of the box and add my own creative touches to my projects.

Leo: Things to keep in mind include uniqueness (is it different from others?), problem solving (is this is a cool way to solve an issue?), and diversity (is there a wide range of things?)
As a competitor myself, I would brainstorm ideas that I believe would make my projects fun to play if I look at it from the user’s perspective.

There you have it! The three core judging criteria for the main Wiz competitions.

Online STEM competitions can be a lot of fun despite the challenges the participants might face in their projects. It’s the perfect way to encourage students to apply STEM skills to solve problems.

I think my experience as a competitor was amazing and very fun. It let us be creative and make something off of a topic. The Wiz people were all very nice and taught us how to use new apps to code. The judges were all very nice.

Btw, ty for the robux!

— Alicia, previous WSI participant

Most importantly, in order to reap in the full benefits of an online STEM competition, students should always have fun!

… it was very fun to be a competitor, and I was able to gain lots of experience from the camp.

— Oliver, Wiz student

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Artificial Intelligence is growing at a rapid rate. See how you can prep students for the future.

Artificial intelligence is not a fantasy from sci-fi movies. It’s actually growing at a rapid rate. In fact, Fortune Business Insights predicts that the global AI market value is expected to reach $267 billion by 2027.

Additionally, according to the World Economic Forum,

85 million jobs will be eliminated, and 97 million new ones created thanks to AI by 2025. That’s an overall addition of 12 million jobs.

So fear-not — the robots are not taking over jobs!

With AI becoming increasingly important, now it’s the time to start introducing it to youths so they can be better prepped for the future.

Whether you are a teacher looking for STEM-related teaching resources or a parent looking for fun activities to do with your family, we’ve compiled a few resources for you to explore!

Experiments with Google

Google has a collection of AI Experiments for you to explore. The best part is that you don’t need any prior experience in AI or even STEM at all. AI is showcased as simple experiments conducted through pictures, drawings, language, music, and more!

We’ve already tried a few of these experiments and they were so fun to play with! My personal favourite was the “Quick, Draw!” experiment. It’s fascinating to think that my drawings have contributed to the “world’s largest doodling data set”.

Encourage your students to also check out these experiments based on their interests and engage them in a discussion on what they have learned as well as how it helped with their understanding of AI.

Microsoft AI for Good

While AI has been a powerful system to help businesses run more efficiently and our personal lives run more smoothly (thank you smart assistants!), did you know that it’s also been used to solve global challenges?

Microsoft AI for Good provides technology and resources to empower organizations working to solve global challenges to the environment, humanitarian issues, accessibility, health, and cultural heritage.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/ai-for-good

The website is a great resources for parents and teachers to look at how AI has been applied in those areas to inspire discussions and motivates youths to think about different ways to make the world a more sustainable place for the future.

There’s also a special section for community-powered AI projects. These are projects that you can participate!

There’s still time to register for the 2022 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition!

Other than these AI resources, you can still introduce STEM to your classroom through participating in STEM competitions!

This year’s competition theme will be around the space rover and space exploration. Each individual or team registration will come with an at-home robotics kit accompanied by the Wiz online learning platform so you can learn to code and build your rover from scratch.

You can learn more about the 2022 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition directly on the website. Be sure to also check out the amazing Cybertruck creations from the 2021 Wiz Prodigy Competition!

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From overcoming design challenges to tips on succeeding — Hear directly from Jason Liu, a 2021 Wiz Prodigy Competition participant, as he shared insights and tips on his experiences with STEM competitions

The concept of an Online STEM Competition might sound abstract and foreign to some. However, it’s not as scary as you think! Online STEM Competitions create a valuable opportunity for students to learn new STEM skills at their own pace and also apply those skills for their own robotics creations.

As we begin to prep for the start of the 2022 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition, I had an opportunity to sit down with Jason Liu, a 2021 Wiz Prodigy Competition participant to chat about his STEM journey and his experiences with STEM competitions.

INTRO

Q: Jason, thank you for joining us! Could you please tell me a bit more about yourself and your STEM journey so far?

My name is Jason Liu and I’m currently a sophomore in high school. I came to Wiz Robotics as a student about a year ago and was introduced to the Arduino kit. I would say that was how I started getting into STEM.

At Wiz, my first competition was the Wiz Summer Innovator Challenge. I enjoyed it a lot and decided to challenge myself so I participated in the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) in a team with a few other students.

The Wiz Prodigy Competition

Q: I see that you are no stranger to STEM competitions at this point. What made you decide to compete in the 2021 Wiz Prodigy Competition?

To be honest, I was hesitant about joining at first mostly because of the age group since I was only a freshman at the time. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to compete against high school students a lot older than I was. However, one of my friends was already in the Wiz Prodigy Competition and he asked me for help with his Cybertruck.

As I was getting myself familiar with the competition, Jack suggested that I should enter the competition for myself and make my own Cybertruck. That’s how I ended up participating on my own and I was very grateful to be able to join because it turned out to be a really good experience that was worth my time.

Q: I’m glad to hear that you had a great experience at the 2021 Competition! Tell me more about your Cybertruck!

I have to say it was a very long design process.

At first, I created a design with cardboard cutout that was way too small and the circuit wouldn’t be able to fit inside. I was sad that it didn’t work as I had already spent a week on this version.

I started on my second iteration. I made it large enough that it fitted all of the electrical circuits and components. The sizing was correct but as I got to the design aspect of the cybertruck, I realized that using the aluminum foil didn’t look good. That’s when I decided to spray paint. So yes — I learned how to spray paint while working on my cybertruck! I did it all by myself.

Q: That’s very impressive. Good for you! What were some other roadblocks you faced in the process?

Sizing was definitely the biggest problem I had. I needed a solution that would help me fit all the components in the chassis.

My second iteration actually didn’t work out as I wanted at first because it still wasn’t large enough. I actually considered a third iteration that was going to be even larger. Then I came up with the approach of having multiple floors and it solved the problem! On the first floor, I had all the electrical controlling the wheels of my cybertruck and on the second floor I had all the sensors.

The fitting of the battery was another issue I had because I wanted my cybertruck to be compact so it’s unique. The battery was almost the width of the cybertruck. I thought of an openable compartment design that would fit the battery and also have the ability to change the battery if I need to.

(Check out the video below of Jason talking about his Cybertruck!)

Q: That’s super clever of you. Where did you get the inspiration for your solutions to those challenges?

During my first FTC, we had an elevator compartment inside our robot. As I was thinking about that experience, I thought about elevators which then led me to think about floors. What if I did a similar elevator approach but without the actual “elevator” and just have different floors and compartments? That’s how I came up with the design for my cybertruck.

Q: Nice! You were able to take inspiration from your previous experiences and apply it to adapt to your new design. That’s definitely what we like to see in all our students.

What was your favourite and least favourite part about the competition?

I loved that I was able to do something that made me happy. It was very fun to be able to build something and combine past experiences in a competitive environment. I also learned a lot of new things such as spray painting!

I have to say that the Arduino part was kind of hard. However it was fun learning about it and overcoming the challenge.

Looking Forward

Q: Do you plan to work in STEM in the future?

I’m not sure yet. But I do know that I don’t want to be a lawyer (sorry lawyers!). I would like to explore more in STEM.

Q: Yes definitely! Take the time to explore your interests. Anything interesting you are working on right now?

Right now I’m learning how to program in java because I heard that it’s a good foundation to have if I want to learn more programming languages. I think for now that’s the direction I’m exploring.

Q: Any advice for 2022 Wiz Prodigy participants or STEM students in general?

You should always have fun and do the things you enjoy doing!

Thank you so much Jason for sharing your experiences and insights! Best of luck with your future endeavours!

I had a great time chatting with Jason and it was very inspiring to hear about his journey not only as a STEM student but also his experiences with the 2021 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition.

Here are some key takeaways I had gathered from our conversation that could be helpful for any student:

• Don’t give up when faced with challenges! Turn those challenges into opportunities for innovation
• Find something that you enjoy doing and keep on doing it. It’s very important to always have fun.
• Learn from your past experiences and apply it in new ways!

There’s still time to register for the 2022 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition!

This year’s competition theme will be around the space rover and space exploration. Each individual or team registration will come with an at-home robotics kit accompanied by the Wiz online learning platform so you can learn to code and build your rover from scratch.

You can learn more about the 2022 Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition directly on the website. Be sure to also check out the amazing Cybertruck creations from the 2021 Wiz Prodigy Competition!

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It’s 2022 and women are still being under-represented in various STEM fields

March is Women’s History Month.

While we shouldn’t JUST dedicate 31 days in a year to celebrate women’s achievements, it’s important to take this opportunity to bring more awareness to the issues of gender inequality especially in STEM fields.

A lot of progress has been made over the decades with more girls in school as ever before. However, girls and women are still under-represented in STEM careers.

According to the UNESCO report Cracking the code: Girls’ and women’s education in STEM, only 35% of STEM students in higher education globally are women, and differences are observed within STEM disciplines.

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) published a research report called The STEM Gap: Women and Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics that pointed to a few factors causing the issue:

• Gender Stereotypes
• Male-Dominated Cultures that are not supportive of /attractive to women and minorities
• Fewer Role Models that are represented in the media and pop culture
• Math Anxiety that most likely stemmed from the myth of the math brain (in which research has already shown that it’s false information).

Here are some of the ways that we could do to help close the gender gap.

Bring more awareness to the importance of STEM education for girls and women.

The UNESCO Science Report 2021 pointed out that closing the gender gap in STEM education would have a positive impact on economic growth.

Women must be given equal access to education and information that will enable them to compete equally with men for the jobs of the future, says UNESCO.

Highlight more women leaders to inspire the future generation

From the great chemist and physicist Marie Curie (who was the only woman in history to win two Nobel Prizes) to Mae Jemison (the First African American woman to travel to space), there are many great role models to highlight and to inspire students.

Improve STEM education by providing additional support for teachers

According to the AAUW, teachers need to go through additional professional development opportunities to address implicit and systemic biases to raise awareness about girls’ math abilities, avoid passing on math anxiety and ensure boys and girls are held to the same standards.

Make STEM classes fun and collaborative

STEM can often be negatively perceived as boring and “dry”. Through promoting hands-on experiential learning for STEM, we can show students that STEM is fun and collaborative.

At Wiz Robotics, this has always been at the core of our classes. We try to make STEM fun and engaging for students to inspire them to continue to learn STEM and apply the skills they learned in class to everyday life.

Additionally, with the current Wiz Prodigy Online STEM Competition that we are hosting, students can work individually or in teams to build and compete with their own space rover. The Competition curriculum will provide the basic foundations of STEM skills but the rest will be up to the students to explore! This is the perfect way for students to explore STEM and think outside of the box.

Expose STEM to every student at a young age

Correcting negative perceptions and eliminate biases at a young age can help students embrace STEM. This will give students an opportunity to take up an interest in STEM and provide them with ample time to learn more throughout their academic years.

Here are a few additional readings:

• 9 books to read during Women’s History Month in 2022 — interstingengineering.com
• 6 Things Successful Women in STEM Have in Common — HBR.com
• Career Advice For Future Female STEM Leaders — Forbes

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