Robotics is pretty awesome–our eSchool News Robotics Guide has reinforced that concept for anyone who wasn’t totally convinced. But sometimes, robotics and robots can also be a liiiiittle scary.

To close out robotics month and celebrate Halloween (because you’re never too old to celebrate Halloween), we’re taking a fun look at times when robotics or robots gave us a scare–or gave us some food for thought.

Some of these videos are probably a bit alarmist, and most of their “scary robots take over the world” predictions will come to fruition. Nonetheless, it’s fun to look at where robots started and where, guided by programmers and professionals whose interest in robotics began at an early age, they’re headed.

1. This video, the Top 10 Scariest AI Robot Moments, tackles Alexa, humanoid robots, self-driving cars, and more.

2. At CES 2019, this narrator encountered products that “might make you fear the artificial future we’re facing right around the corner.” AI has come a long way, and is heading down a super innovative path. But according to this narrator, companies are working really hard to replicate and replace human beings in general.

Few girls choose engineering classes because they aspire to be engineers. Many choose their classes because their friends do. The sense of belonging is important to them, and girls in STEM want to feel as if they belong. When Marsha* was young, she had no plans to be an engineer.

As she entered high school, many of her new friends joined the robotics club that met after school. Marsha initially decided to not join her friends. However, after a few weeks she started to feel left out of the daily conversation that usually revolved around robotics and their after school meetings. Consequently, Marsha found herself starting to attend every robotics meeting in order to keep up with the conversation and her new friends’ interests.

Ironically, Marsha realized how interesting engineering actually was, and eventually decided to join the competitive girl’s robotics team that year. With Marsha’s help and with the guidance of a female robotics mentor, the team qualified for an all-girls robotics competition. Marsha’s love for engineering was set.

Related content: 4 career connections to help get more girls in STEM

When Marsha’s peers were selecting electives for the following year, she heard that the 2nd year of engineering would be a continuation of what she had already learned in the robotics club, and the same female teacher was again the robotics mentor. Marsha continued in engineering her junior and senior year, and has now decided to major in computer science.

Marsha’s story illustrates some of the key components required to recruit and retain girls in STEM: community, focus on soft skills like written and verbal communication as well as technical skills, the appeal of problem solving in the real world, and relatable mentors or role models. These components are an integral part of the FlexFactor program, and they are why I am a strong supporter of the initiative for its appeal to students like Marsha.

Poor performance in previous math classes and low confidence are some of students’ biggest stumbling blocks when it comes to math success, according to a new survey about math education.

The survey of more than 400 high school math teachers comes from the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Teachers in the survey are all coaches for student teams participating in the MathWords Math Modeling (M3) Challenge, a national online contest SIAM organizes.

Related content: How we created a growth mindset to help students with math

The results indicate that students don’t need innate math genius to excel. Instead, they need practice, confidence, and real-world connections.

“Contrary to public opinion, the results of the survey demonstrate that success in math is not based on nature, but rather, an aptitude for math can be nurtured with effort, motivation, and self-assurance,” says Michelle Montgomery, M3 Challenge project director at SIAM. “The results also reinforce the importance of making math relevant to everyday life as a foundation to increase students’ desire to learn.”

1. Top 3 success factors

Teachers said the top three success factors for high math performance are: working hard to understand math concepts and knowing when to apply them versus simply memorizing formulas (75 percent); having the desire, initiative, and motivation to succeed (63 percent); and having confidence in their abilities and believing they can succeed (48 percent).