MITS is providing another great opportunity to join the national cadre of SeaPerch robotics.  Sign up now for our upcoming two-day SeaPerch workshops in November and December.  The November workshop will be held Thursday, November 7th and Friday, November 8th at the South Shore Natural Science Center and the South Shore YMCA in Norwell, MA.  In June MITS held a workshop for their staff and we are excited to be working with them to run this workshop.  The December workshop will be held Thursday, December 12th and Friday, December 13th at the Springfield High School of Science & Technology in Springfield, MA.

This year MITS is encouraging teachers to bring one or two student with them to the workshops to learn how to build and use the ROV.   Each teacher/teacher student team will receive and build a SeaPerch kit, test the ROV and receive curriculum, instruction, and lots of resources.  The student trainees will return to school equipped as peer teachers to help train other students in building and working with the ROV.  Student and teachers together can boost their robotics clubs, do citizen science, and create teams to attend the annual SeaPerch challenge.

SeaPerch is a national program supported by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI).  The SeaPerch program teaches educators how to build and use underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).  The ROV’s are constructed from PVC pipe and other readily available materials and are designed to be easily modified and adapted.  The SeaPerch can be “hacked” to carry data collecting instruments, cameras and plankton nets, making it a great vehicle for fun and hands-on science.  SeaPerch is great addition to a teacher’s marine and environmental science courses and is an exciting project for engineering and technical education classes.  AUVSI holds a yearly National SeaPerch Challenge at different venues around the country which brings together students and teachers to meet a different Challenge developed by the National SeaPerch program.  The challenge is different each year.

The cost of either two-day SeaPerch workshop is $200 (add $20 for each accompanying student – max of 2).  13 PDPs are available.  Lunch will be provided for the participants.

For SeaPerch workshop information contact the MITS office at (617) 328-1515 or email Jen Klein at jklein@mits.org.  For more information on SeaPerch visit www.seaperch.org