I started a program today with a 5th Grade Elementary class that basically uses Lego Mindstorms kits to introduce kids to Engineering concepts, this is through the STOMP Network. We had a 4 hour training class over the summer, and received some kits to build robots with, I took it home but my 3 year old was not as patient with the kit as I had hoped; yeah I know, not realistic. Still it was fun to watch him see the robot go around, and follow it some where it went and did a course through the house.
First day with this group was basically build a durable structure, in this case a chair, that can be dropped with a stuffed animal in it, I had talked about the class with someone else involved who said it was good to come in with a good and bad example. I made a good chair, that holds up when dropped from knee height, and a chair that would break when it hit the floor, as expected most kids were pointing to the one that would break because they were familiar with those Legos. Still it didn't stop their design process when the kids were told to make their own chair, in teams of 2's and 3's. Funny how many different designs there were, and how many of them wanted to make wheel chairs, whether it was because there were wheels in the kits or they wanted to see something move as well I have no idea.
This continues for the next 8-10 weeks and looks like it will be fun. Next week the kids should finish their chairs, then we move onto something else, eventually making a robotics car that they can program. I have to get used to the programming interface again, thankfully I have time for that.
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