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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nYin\u2019s specialty is \u201csoft robotics\u201d in the undersea environment; he\u2019s in his fourth year pursuing his doctorate at the Narragansett Bay Campus. Interested in doing more community outreach beyond the Graduate School of Oceanography, he found a place to share his expertise at Quest Montessori on Boston Neck Road, Rhode Island\u2019s only accredited Montessori school; the woodsy campus is just a mile from the Bay Campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yin\u2019s expertise certainly helped the team win additional awards, including Excellence in Core Values at this year\u2019s regional competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Says Katherine Bowen, head of school at Quest, \u201cAlex has become an integral part of the Quest team. He engages with the students in a manner that allows them to make their own decisions, problem-solve, and learn from their mistakes. Alex’s focus on the process as opposed to the end goal of winning is a fundamental element of Montessori education. Our students love him.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yin is a research assistant in the University\u2019s Undersea Robotics and Imaging Laboratory, which specializes in creating novel systems for oceanographic research and deep-sea exploration. The team uses robots to conduct research around the world, gathering photos and data from remote, unexplored undersea environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing up, Yin was inspired by great inventors like Leonardo Da Vinci and Nikola Tesla, and for these reasons decided to become a mechanical engineer. Now his focus is on deep sea robotics with a special interest in \u201cbio-inspired and bio-mimetic\u201d (nature-emulating) designs. \u201cThere is much for us to learn from nature such as animals and plants,\u201d he says. He hopes to build on these discoveries to create new robotic devices that can accomplish tasks like cleaning up the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When not in the lab, Yin could be found on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons working with the students at Quest Montessori. He\u2019s also teaching an engineering design course focused on innovation and invention there on Wednesday mornings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Quest students are accustomed to trying new approaches, willing to experiment and try new things. Yin has been impressed with their enthusiasm and hard work. \u201cThey are incredibly smart and talented kids, and I\u2019ve been glad to help teach them valuable life skills that will help them in the future,\u201d he says. \u201cThe students have been very motivated and interested in learning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Approaching the robotics competition, Yin kept that student energy and interest high, instilling a playful and open attitude in his classroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think that most people feel that kids need guidance and have to be told what to do because they are young, but I don’t think that is true,\u201d he says. \u201cKids are more intelligent and more aware than what most adults credit. It\u2019s important for adults to help them explore. It\u2019s also a lot of fun working with kids because they are not limited in their creativity; they are very curious and open-minded.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The students even tackled complex topics like gear ratios and torque. Yin says it was gratifying to see students gain understanding of these essential engineering concepts and start experimenting with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, Yin wanted the students to be more independent and self-directed. \u201cI wanted them to learn how to identify a problem, go through the process of exploring potential solutions, and iterating until they felt like they had a satisfactory solution all on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn research, we are constantly exploring new approaches and new ideas. I wanted to teach the kids how to think on their own and come up with their own solutions rather than being fixated on the \u2018optimal\u2019 approach. Creativity is important and something that needs to be nurtured.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 4, 2023 \u2013 When the robots call, it\u2019s best to say yes. That\u2019s what 溏心vlog免费B站 Ph.D. candidate Alexander Yin (of North Kingstown) did when Quest Montessori School in Narragansett put out a call for a robotics coach for its First\u00ae LEGO\u00ae League Challenge team in 2021. Yin couldn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":85017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85016"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85044,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85016\/revisions\/85044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}