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WE are challenged on many fronts as technical educators to bring relevant and timely instruction to our students. The broad range of developmental and interest issues typical to middle schoolage students further complicates the situation.
Before adopting a learning activity into a middle school technology program, I believe it must meet three criteria: the learning must be relevant, fun, and develop employability skills. The FIRST Lego League Robotics fills these requirements in every measure.
FIRST Things First
FIRST Lego League (FLL) is the younger sibling of the FIRST Robotics High School Event that is sweeping the nation. As such, it is geared toward upper elementary and middle schoolage children-that is, ages 9-14-and uses the universally appealing modeling elements of Lego.
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is the brainchild of Dean Kamen, inventor extraordinaire, with pharmaceutical pumps, a wheelchair able to walk up stairs, and the recently unveiled Ginger Project (an electric-powered scooter) all to his credit. Troubled by a lack of emphasis on the importance of science in our schools, Kamen launched FIRST to encourage kids to pursue careers as engineers, scientists, and inventors.
"Our culture celebrates one thing: sports heroes," Kamen says. "You have teenagers thinking they're going to make millions as NBA stars when that's not realistic for even one percent of them. Becoming a scientist or an engineer is realistic."
Lego League challenges teams of 7 to 10 students to design, build, and program an autonomous robot to solve a series of problems with a central theme. For instance, the 1999 challenge involved rescuing astronauts aboard the International Space Station. A volcano threatened a village and scientific expedition in the 2000 challenge.
And this year's challenge-Arctic Impact-deals with the SHEBA mission in the Arctic to measure global warming and climate change. Lego League robots must perform nine tasks related to that expedition in less than two minutes' time.
An Even Playing Field
Each team is given a 4' x 8' printed vinyl mat on which they arrange the props and mission scoring areas. Lego elements, also provided, serve as the various missions' equipment.
Teams use a Lego Mindstorms Invention Set along with such additional parts as a third motor, a...