Betabox Learning brings the field trip to New Dimensions

Monday morning’s muggy air quickly heated the exterior of Betabox Learning’s sky-blue mobile STEM lab as the instructors led New Dimensions Charter School students in the use of autonomous robotics.

STEM instructors Rachael Scheatzle and Josh Ayers prepped the six remote-controlled vehicles while sixth through eighth grade students from teacher Kelly O’Toole’s class chattered around the lab — about the size of a shipping container — oohing and aahing at the small Mars Rover-style vehicles.

Minutes later, they drove the code-controlled cars with cameras around the parking lot, viewing the live camera feed through a tablet as the little white robots covered in multi-colored wires traversed cracks in the pavement, rocks, and metal ramps.

For Ayers, the best part is watching students learn that they have access to technology they previously thought was only available in a lab.

“Students, when they get that, they light up, especially when we’re in urban schools where they either don’t have access to technology or don’t feel like they have access to technology,” he said. “This is on almost every computer. It’s a core system function, and you can use it and do all this cool stuff with it.”

After remote controlling the cars via commands in a web server, a computer system that stores and delivers files over the internet, the kids shuffled outside to a pair of tables covered in tablets and drones.

To fly the drones, the students had to input a series of commands — flip, move left, move right, move up by a specified number of inches — before their machines would take off and execute the series of inputs, then land gently on the ground.

“I love this,” Orion Monroe said, as his pre-programmed drone flipped in the air and shot toward the sky. “This is the best thing I’ve probably ever done.”

A few feet away, Sam Cooper sat by the grass, watching his machine drift higher and higher with each liftoff.

The instructor leading the drone flights, Scheatzle, also acts as a school success manager, coordinating with schools to line up visits.

She originally came to Betabox after time as a high school science teacher, citing a love of the hands-on learning aspect the educational technology company offered.

“I feel like STEM and technology, that realm, can be intimidating,” Scheatzle said. “I feel like this is an introduction to it and students can feel comfortable with it and maybe see themselves doing something like this and not be as intimidated by it.”

While Scheatzle travels from Charlotte, Ayers works from the headquarters in Raleigh. Instructors travel to schools for the “on-site field trips.”

Educators can request a Betabox for their school at betabox.com.

While the requesting school chooses an experience, which ranges from autonomous robotics to electrical engineering and aerospace learning, the funding is covered by a sponsor — in this case, Trane Technologies, a Dublin, Ireland-based company that focuses on sustainable technology and climate systems.