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McGlynn students describe hands-on learning in new Robotics 3 60 program
Summary
Two McGlynn Middle School students described classroom work in a new Robotics 3 60 science challenge course, telling the Medford School Committee the program combines coding, teamwork and real‑world problem solving; the district says state officials will visit this week to see the pilot.
Two students from McGlynn Middle School told the Medford School Committee on Monday that a new Robotics 3 60 science challenge course is giving them early experience with coding, engineering and teamwork.
Eighth‑grader Annabel Foster said her group has progressed to unit four and is building a “crab‑like robot” designed to “scan for ocean temperature and gather data points that can be useful in helping research aquatic life in the future.” She told the committee the course uses a kit with modified Lego components and “block coding, which is the base for all coding in the future.”
Sixth‑grader Oliver Dojewski Santos said the class gives students practical problem‑solving experience and a sense of accomplishment when teams “overcome these challenges.” He said the course asks students to decide design features, test them and iterate, which made him feel “sort of like an engineer.”
Principal Tucci and Director Siri introduced the students and described Robotics 3 60 as a K–12 STEM platform that pairs robotics hardware with block‑based programming and an option to toggle to Python. Director Siri said the curriculum is intended to preserve a consistent programming language as students move from kindergarten through high school: “As students learn programming with different robots, they don't need to learn a brand new programming language each step of the way.”
Committee members praised the student presentations and the district leaders. Superintendent Dr. Galusi said the Mustang Moment presentations give “the community a little snapshot into the lives of students,” and announced that Lieutenant Governor and the state education secretary will attend a McGlynn science challenge class on Thursday to see the pilot in action.
Students, school leaders and committee members noted that the program is in an early pilot phase and that teachers and students have reported small technical kinks—students described occasional mistranslations in instructions and opaque error messages in coding units—but said the overall engagement and learning gains justify continuing the rollout.
The committee did not take formal action on the program at the meeting. It requested continued updates as the pilot proceeds and noted the upcoming state visit.
