When 8-year-old Maeve Gascott tried programming a tiny robotic ball for the first time, it didn’t move as intended. Yet her senior year kept trying until she mastered it her way, using the iPad’s virtual joystick.

Maeve Gascott and her dad were among a team of students and parents learning about coding and robotics at Walnut Street Elementary School’s Super Science Saturday program Saturday morning.

“Little fingers, big success,” Maeve grins broadly after the Sphero Bolt robot coasts along a course taped to the floor. Next is coding. Her father, Uniondale’s Jonathan Guscott, said the event was an important educational experience for children to become tech-savvy. It also facilitates problem solving.

“It’s not the first time she’s seen these things.

So far, Maeve and her father have attended every science event on Saturday. 5 times when I was in the 3rd grade, 2nd time out of 4 times this year.

“I hate to miss them. I really like meeting my friends and sharing my work,” said Maeve Guscott.

Over 30 clever students turned their nifty gadgets into parade floats by attaching homemade masks and balloons. The three-hour event was supposed to end with the robot gliding down a hallway, but the extra gear could have made things a little more cumbersome.

Ten-year-old Nicholas Dass looked natural. He was the first to successfully program an app-enabled robot to avoid turns and blocks.

“Amazing. …the fact that you can move around and control in this little ball,” Das said. “That sounds good. Learn about the experiment, build it and test if it works.”

Uniondale Schools Superintendent Monique Dalisseau Achill said high-energy events help spread learning beyond the classroom and into the home.

“We are serious about learning about science, engineering, tinkering and making things,” said Darithaw Achill, adding that the students all went home with bags full of activities. .

“So parents are experiencing the activities we want their children to do in class and can think of vocabulary and other activities and ways to converse what they have learned at home.”

The event was open to children in grades 3-5, but the younger siblings were not turned away. With robotics expected to continue to dominate the manufacturing industry, some teachers felt this gave their students an early edge.

Jack Drevnyak, a high school technology teacher who stood by to help elementary school students, said he hopes the Super Science Saturday program will help them land high-paying jobs in tech.

“We try to bring this STEM program in at an early age so that when they go to high school, we can teach them something more advanced and prepare them for the real world.” added Drevnyak of Limbrook.