obert Henley, director of the Innovus Center in Altamonte Springs, Florida, and his son, Brenden, spear-headed an initiative that took 10 individuals from Oakwood University to the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) convention in Chicago, Illinois this past March. The individuals sought internships at major companies that were recruiting students and graduates.
Smith: You are passionate about teaching and developing students to excel in science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM), and robotics. You do so for those not identified as your typical bright scholars but for individuals who never thought they had a talent or knack for the sciences or interest in those fields. Where did that passion come from?
Henley: I’ve always had a passion for teaching. I received my master’s in education, but I believed a turning point in my life was when my wife, who is a physician, experienced a situation with our son who was in the second grade. The teacher described him as being disruptive [because he] couldn’t keep still. She suggested that he be tested for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). His grades were faltering, and the stigma of another black male child having a learning impediment because of being labelled ADD/ADHD was something that my wife and [I] had to address. Although we placed him on medication, we found that he wasn’t the same confident, happy little boy that he once was. My wife and I worked with him patiently and continuously and found that he had a different set of learning skills that didn’t fit into the traditional learning method.
Henley: The traditional learning model is based on telling the student what needs to be known on a subject through talking or lecturing, then the student memorizing the information and applying it to the subject matter presented. But our son exhibited learning skills that were more hands-on or problem-based learning,
Smith: How did you see signs of improvement in his behavior and grades?
Henley: I started to enroll him in more robotic camps and saw how much he was excelling with robotics. He started to learn programming to build robots to solve various problems. I learned that [there are] different models of learning based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences; meaning that people have different ways of learning and using intelligence. When my son made the connection of taking a more hands-on approach to his learning, his grades and self-esteem skyrocketed. The more I saw the connection, the more I learned about robotics and the STEM effect.
Henley: Here are some stats: Research by the World Economic Forum estimates that 65% of children entering primary school will find themselves in occupations that today do not yet exist. Minorities make up less than 5% of the STEM-based workforce, according to the U.S. Dept of Labor 2012 Statistics.
Smith: At what age are you implementing these skills and what outcomes are you seeing?
Henley: We are engaging students from K-12, and we are seeing astonishing results. Students at Innovus have been hired to redesign BioTissue model holder[s] in partnership with a company called Minimally Invasive Solutions. We have partnered with Loma Linda University’s Biomechatronic research and other health care and engineering companies. We have STEM camps that offer a business incubator for student startup companies. I say we are cultivating “innovators” at our learning centers. Proverbs 18:16 states, “A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.”