Robotics in the Classroom

Two years ago I helped out the middle school FLL (First League Lego) Robotics team in the middle school. It was a new beginning for me. I was hooked, instantly and madly in love with these little EV3 robots called “Bricks.” More importantly though, I was amazed by what these innovative middle school students were doing with these “bricks.” They were programming them to move unassisted around a board through obstacles. What was even more amazing was they were able to EXPLAIN it to me! Their creativity and ability to see the steps the robot needed to take before it had taken them and think through the process of the robot moving across the board was new to me.

The way the teams worked together to solve not only the problems on the board in under two minutes, as set out by the guidelines by FLL, but also the real life problem they had to solve and present on was mind boggling. Their ability to work as a team, collaborate, use gracious professionalism, divide responsibility, organize their time, and manage their team had real life implications. I was not only impressed, but I was excited! I was involved with coaching the B team, and I was with them all the way to the state competition. I was so proud when they performed well as a group in their interview and commercial. They defended their program with the programmers with poise, and they made modifications in the “pit” during the training runs and after each board run during the competition. Even though they did not win, they really did WIN! Because they LEARNED!! They succeeded in failing and trying and failing and trying again. That is the definition of succeeding!! That is why ESK has brought Lego robotics to the lower school in grades 2-5 this year in a Jr. robotics club.

Last year, one of the students on my B team asked me to be his sponsor for his 8th grade Portfolio Project. Buchanan built a FLL regulation robotics table, ordered the Mars Mat, wrote a nine-week course curriculum, and helped to teach nine students in 2nd and 3rd grade how to program three EV3 Robots to do some of the Mars Mat missions. The FLL is set up for kids in 5th grade, but Buchanan, myself, and Mrs. Laurence thought that our ESK kids could handle it. At the end of the nine weeks the kids wanted to continue, and they did. We continued the class, along with parent volunteers, Gary Steadman and Nicole Underwood, until the end of the semester. By the end, the students were able to run the robots and program the brick to run four of the six missions successfully. Each of the two groups also made a presentation on a real life way that robots could help humans in outer space.

After the success of the portfolio project last year, I signed on for another year, and we officially started a lower school Jr. Lego Robotics Club in the fall of 2015. Just as Jun Lin states in her article, How Robotics is Transforming STEM in Elementary Schools, robotics in the classroom helps kids focus and harnesses their creativity on a problem to solve. It makes problem solving visual and able to be manipulated with their hands. When you incorporate robots, Legos, and iPads all together you have the technology trifecta that is not only engaging, but also it is comforting to the students. It’s technology that they have grown up with and they are comfortable exploring and using it.

By bringing a Jr. Lego Robotics Club over to the lower school, the students can now apply the classroom knowledge concepts they are learning like negative and positive numbers to make their robots move forward and backwards. We can combine this knowledge and make new connections with their love of creating to help foster a key role in cognitive development. For example, give kids a bin of Legos and watch them build; but give them Legos and a robot with the problem of making a robot go around a building made with 4 right angles and then program it to make a 180 degree turn to come back to the base. If you give them the tools, the knowledge, and the task; you can then sit back and watch the no fear attitude emerge and the fear of failure disappear.

Becoming a successful programmer is all about working on the problem and figuring out the steps around and through the problem. Build it, test it, fix it, and do it again and again. Practice makes perfect! Collaborate! Working as a team is what you want and in FLL it is one of the CORE beliefs. No one person does it all. That is a wise rule to go by, and it is one of the many reasons why we brought a Jr. Robotics Club to the lower school this year for Grades 2-5.

Currently, on Mondays we have 2nd & 3rd graders from 3-4:30 p.m. and we have 18 people on the roster. On Wednesday, we have 4th and 5th grade from 3-4:30 p.m. and we have eight people on the roster. This year, we are working on running the 2013 FLL board “Natures Fury.” The club currently has access to 20 IPads and six Blue tooth enabled / programmable EV3 bricks that are synced to 6 individual IPads.

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Today’s blog post is written by second grader teacher Parri Thurman who currently runs the lower school robotics program at ESK.