Materials Needed:
LEGO® Education Simple Machines Set 9689
Overview:
The students will build a model of an amusement park ride that uses simple machines.
Setup:
Divide the class into groups of two. Each group will need a Simple Machines Set. Have an area where the students can display their models when they are completed. Start by telling the students that they are working for an amusement park design company, and they are in charge of designing a brand-new amusement park. Each team will build a ride, and then all of the models will be placed together to create an amusement park. After the rides have been created, each team will add other components to the park (trees, popcorn cart, games, ticket booth, and so forth).
Activity:
Extension:
Have the class vote on a name for the amusement park. Then have the students create invitations for their parents, administrators, and other classes to join the grand opening of the park.
Be sure to sign up for our monthly LEGO Smart Newsletters to get information!
“I've taught and coached these students for various events since they were in 6th grade. What a joy it is to anticipate what they will contribute to our nation’s future.” – Dr. Susan Holland, STEM Educator
The robotics engineering team, known as Anonymous Initiative, coached by Dr. Susan Holland, will compete in the 2012 National Institute of Navigation (ION) Mini-Urban Challenge, in Washington, D.C. on May 26th. The team consisting of high school students, Zach, Josh and Eli, competed at the Ohio Regional Championship and received the highest scores in robot navigation and presentation skills, sealing their spot in the national competition. More than 500 students from 50 high schools participated in other regional competitions around the country.
The Mini-Urban Challenge is a national competition sponsored by ION and the United States Air Force Research Laboratory. The challenge requires students to design, build, program and operate a robotic car that can accurately navigate through a mini-city. The cars are developed using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education kits that are provided to high school teams free of charge.
The purpose of this competition is to provide high school students with real world engineering lessons in problem solving, technical language, project and time management, and teamwork; with a goal of inspiring and attracting students to the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Equipped with the team’s exceptional programming strategy, the autonomous robotic car achieved a perfect score. The car entered the model city from the entry point, traveled through the city roads and intersections, obeying all marked speed limits and stop signs. The robot is required to visit each of the assigned primary buildings, pull into a designated parking place and stop for a minimum of 5 seconds. Once all the stops have been completed, the car is required to exit the city at the designated exit point.
Each team has a maximum of 45 minutes within the LEGO® mini-city.
The students’ previous achievements include becoming Ohio FLL Ambassadors, going to the FLL World Festival in Atlanta, where they earned 3rd place in Teamwork among the world competitors, and taking 3rd at the ION-MUC in Washington, DC last year.
All three students were previous members of the former FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Robotics winning team, Turbulent Typhoons, the 2009 Ohio FLL Ambassadors.
For more information about the competition, click here.
In the kindergarten classes at A.J. Whittenberg Elementary in Greenville, South Carolina, LEGO DUPLO bricks are helping students learn about problem solving and engineering. The students act as real engineers as they go through the problem-solving process: after some playtime to warm up, they plan, build, test, and evaluate.
According to Tom Roe, curriculum director for A.J. Whittenberg, allowing the students to use the DUPLO bricks to actively learn about engineering is very important for learners of their age. Using teamwork to build a solid foundation for problem solving gets children very excited and leaves them feeling very successful at the end of a challenge. Adult engineers from the community often come into the classroom to work with students and participate in the challenges.
They perform trials in groups where they go through the problem-solving process – they set up a plan, build with DUPLO bricks, and test their builds using set criteria. After the builds, everyone gathers around and watches closely as the groups go through the testing phase. When the build succeeds, all hands go in the air as everyone – students, teachers, and engineers – cheer and applaud! “It’s great to see everyone so involved while learning,” said Roe.
For more information visit LEGOeducation.us/Preschool.
Being a rookie team this year themselves, FIRST Tech Challenge Team 5202 Try to Understand has some sound advice for teams joining the FIRST family. Download and read about their journey as a rookie team in the 2012 FIRST Championship!
Kevin – “Never think that you are done. Test, test, test, and keep improving. Remember even if it doesn’t seem like you got much done today that what you did today might help you figure out the problem tomorrow.”
Nathan – “Get lots of ideas; then try them all to find out the best one.”
Christopher – “Expect to put many, many hours into the robot in order for it to produce a winner.”
Michael B. – “Be willing to sacrifice lots of time and be willing to give up your idea for another idea.”
Hannah – “Be dedicated, make multiple programs, and be careful naming your programs.”
Michael M. – “Look for support in your community! You’ll be amazed at the resources offered to you. Samuel – “Remember that FIRST is not just about the robot. It is very important to work on your presentation (judging and working with other teams) and outreach to your community.”
Like many hands-on solutions, LEGO® Education sets include many pieces and parts that can be intimidating to teachers. This information, which comes from many teachers experienced in using LEGO Education solutions at all grade levels, should alleviate some of the concerns we hear most from customers. The first and most important rule is to set clear expectations from the beginning. Set high expectations of students’ classroom behavior by having procedures in place that they are expected to follow. Often when students realize they are given a unique opportunity to work with LEGO elements in class, they hold themselves to higher standards.
Download this helpful tips sheet; whether you are working with elementary kids or high schools students, there are tips and tricks in here to help with your classroom management.
The Hippie Pandas participated last week at the FIRST World Championship where they won 1st place in the Gracious Professionalism Award. The Gracious Professionalism™ Award sponsored by Johnson & Johnson celebrates outstanding sportsmanship and continuous gracious professionalism in the heat of competition, both on and off the playing field. Read below how FIRST LEGO League team 4655 the Hippie Pandas prepared for competition this season!
The Need
Looking for an after-school program that not only helps young people discover the fun in science and technology but also builds self-confidence, knowledge, and valuable life skills? FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®) provides students ages 9-14 just that opportunity. Take, for example, the Hippie Pandas – Ashley, Carolyn, Jodie, and Emily – a FIRST LEGO League team that just won their first-ever bid to the FIRST World Festival, a culminating celebration of the FLL season. This team of four girls, ranging in age from 11-14, loves to compete in the FLL competitions because, as Ashley says, “We love the energy and having fun cheering and dancing and learning about other teams’ projects.” Not only are they having fun, they are learning about everything from robotics to this year’s challenge theme, which is all about food safety.
The Solution
In FLL, teams use the LEGO Education MINDSTORMS® robotics system to design a robot that can solve challenges and complete missions on a LEGO-based playing field. The girls start by brainstorming ideas on how to do mission tasks. They then develop robot prototypes and attachments to test their theories. There’s also a bit of overall strategy that comes into play as the girls consider which missions can be combined for additional points. Sometimes, it comes down to location, while at other times, the ability to utilize the same attachment is the major factor. During this process, some of the girls discover their talents are in programming, and others enjoy attachment creation or idea generation. No matter what their strengths are, they are all learning to work together, build, program, and solve problems creatively, all important twenty-first-century skills. Cheryl Lawniczak, the coach of the Hippie Pandas, said, “I love to see the girls try programming or building an attachment and to see their pride and excitement when they succeed!”
The Results
The Hippie Pandas used their robotics knowledge to participate in the 2011-2012 FLL Food Factor Challenge, where they were instructed to investigate their food and find a way to improve its safe delivery. As part of this project, the Hippie Pandas researched the steps taken for getting milk from the farm to the table. They learned that problems can occur while pasteurizing milk, so they designed a solar-powered milk pasteurization system that is both effective and inexpensive. Through the team’s determination and help from their coach and her contacts at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), their pasteurization system will be implemented in a village in Nicaragua. Cheryl and her contacts used their expertise in water treatment and knowledge from working in developing countries to help the Hippie Pandas understand solar pasteurization. The girls rolled mats, made reflectors, and made wax indicators because thermometers are expensive in Nicaragua. According to Ashley, “The people in Nicaragua will have safer milk than the raw milk they are drinking now. The solar pasteurizer is not very expensive, so it will not cost the people a lot of money for safe milk.”
The Hippie Pandas’ hard work and innovative idea certainly paid off, as the girls attended the World Festival! At the event, the girls met with teams from around the world and investigated the solutions those teams devised. As Emily said, “The program is really fun even if you aren’t really interested in robotics or programming; there are other things that you are able to do such as researching, designing presentations, and working on the projects.” It is this sort of teamwork that has propelled the Hippie Pandas to where they are today. Owner and Vice Chairman of the LEGO Group, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, sums up the FIRST experience best: "FLL encourages children to design, construct, and program their own intelligent inventions. This allows them not only to understand technology but to become masters of it.”
For more information on FIRST LEGO League, visit www.LEGOeducation.us/Competitions.