Half a year ago, a couple of us had the opportunity of presenting to a group of summer school girl scouts who elected robotics as their first interest. Per say, we only had one robot to show them (a line follower), but from that example, we explained that it entailed many aspects of engineering. We then went from that micro example, to an overview of the macro systems that we ourselves work on.
Of course, most of what really happened was our "cart of toys"-- a collection of relays,
solenoids, motors, microcontrollers, sensors etc. We gave our presentations, answered questions, but most of all, let them play. It's really motivating to see how quickly children can comprehend a subject so often bathed in mystery and abstraction.
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