Robotics

Curricular

All Camas School District students receive Robotics instruction starting in second grade. The one-week unit utilizes WeDo 2.0 Legos and is led by our Robotics teacher on special assignment (TOSA) and second-grade teaching staff. In fifth grade, all students participate in the one-week unit using EV3 Lego robots. Both units employ building (engineering) and coding (computer science) instruction and tasks.

Middle school programs offer Robotics as part-year and full-year electives.

Camas High School offers several levels of Robotics instruction, including Introduction to Robotics, Advanced Robotics, Robotics Seminar, and Prototyping and Independent Technology.

Students at Hayes Freedom High School can select from an introductory and an advanced course using a wide variety of Robotics components.

Extracurricular

During the spring, elementary school students who are extremely interested in Robotics and can participate in a six-week afterschool program at their home school. The program prepares each team for “Hayes Days,” a competition and celebration of learning between all six elementary schools. Due to the popularity of this program, participation is determined by a lottery.

At the middle and high school level, students can take part in FIRST Robotics teams, which meet and compete after regular school hours, year-round. There are three levels of FIRST Robotics:

  • First Lego League (FLL), Grades 5–8
  • First Tech Challenge (FTC), a competition for business-engineering teams building robots of about the two-foot square size, with simpler challenges. Grades 8–12.
  • First Robotics Competition (FRC), a competition for business-engineering teams building robots the size of humans, with difficult and complicated challenges. Grades 9–12.

Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad competitions are like academic track meets, consisting of 23 events respective to each division (Division B is middle school and Division C is high school). The events list, which varies slightly from year to year, covers many scientific areas of study so that there is something of interest to everyone. While exploring disciplines such as chemistry, earth science, physics, and engineering, students develop valuable teamwork and study skills in a fun and challenging environment.

Camas School District students from fifth grade to twelfth grade participate in Science Olympiad. Students in elementary school participate in a five-week-long club that prepares them for local and/or regional competition.

Middle school students participate in club activities in district middle schools. Eighth-grade students who are willing to commit to a longer season are often invited to participate in high school competitions.

Camas High School Science Olympiad teams regularly compete in national and international competitions.

Coding

Eighth-grade students at Liberty Skyridge Middle School, Odyssey Middle School, and Skyridge Middle School receive coding instruction as part of their technology units. The Camas School District has partnered with TechSmartKids to provide fun application-based Python coding experiences.

At Camas High School, students can select from a wide range of computer science and coding classes, including an Introduction to Coding course, which teaches students basic skills in Python, Java, and RobotC; Advanced Placement Computer Science; and a variety of programming opportunities throughout our Robotics curriculum.

Hayes Freedom High School students can choose from technology offerings that include Programming for Robotics, Python, and Scratch.