Schools
Building Blocks of the Future
Alice Smith Elementary students use Legos to build teamworking skills.
Isn't it fun to watch a kid take a pile of Legos and turn it into a multi-colored robot or a bulldozer with moving parts? These days Legos are not only the building blocks of creative fun, but, as the kids from the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) Lego Team prove, they serve as the building blocks for developing important life skills—such as research, decision making and working as a team.
students and members of the ICU Lego Team—Brandon Dummer (fifth grade), Sophia Haley (fifth grade), Ian Twogood (fifth grade), Chris Kemp (sixth grade), Daniel (sixth grade) and Grace Wallace-Jackson (fourth grade)—experienced this process as they prepared for the First Lego League 2010 Body Forward Challenge. Every year the First Lego League puts on tournaments nationwide, and each year the theme changes.
“This past year, the theme was a 'Body Forward Challenge' where teams explored biomedical engineering to discover innovative ways to improve lives,” said Kim Ruckdaschel-Haley, mother of Sophia.
Find out what's happening in Hopkinswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
First Lego League tournaments focus on two major areas: the robot and the project. For the first component, the team designs and programs a Lego robot that must perform specific missions within 2.5 minutes. For the project, the kids do research and create a presentation centered around a solution to a present-day problem that biomedical engineers are trying to solve.
As their project, the ICU team decided to focus on the problem of blindness with the solution of echolocation.
Find out what's happening in Hopkinswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“When I was reading a book, I found out about echolocation, and I shared it at our next meeting,” Daniel said. “We researched it and figured out that that was what we should do because hardly anyone has done anything with echolocation, so we can make it better than those already out there.”
As part of their research, the kids visited with optometrist Dr. Aaron Mjelstad at the Hopkins Eye Clinic where they learned about different eye diseases.
“We got to look inside of Coach Ron's eye, and it was really cool to see that,” Grace described with a big smile.
The kids also had the opportunity to meet a blind man named Bruce who could actually echolocate.
“He was telling us how to do echolocation with your mouth,” Sophia said, amazed. “He actually showed us how to do it. He puts his tongue on the roof of his mouth and clicks.”
“Then,” piped in Chris, “when you click, the sound waves go to the wall and some of them come back to you, then you kind of know where you are.”
After synthesizing their research, team ICU came up with their own design of an echolocation device—the ACE (Anyone Can Echolocate) Device—and created a five minute presentation in the form of a skit to explain it. They performed their skit in front of a panel of scientists and won first place for their creativity.
“Our team received first place at Regionals for their project presentation, and first place at the State Competition in the area of Best Creative Presentation,” Ruckdaschel-Haley said.
For the robot component of the competition, the kids are provided with a Lego-brand NXT.
“They just give you the NXT—a device that runs the whole thing—and some wires, and then you make the rest out of Legos,” Daniel said.
With the NXT, the kids are able to program the robots actions step by step using computer software.
“You can just tell it what to do on the computer and then you download it and then you just run it [on the NXT]," Sophia said.
For the competition, the kids had to program their Lego robot to maneuver around obstacles and complete a variety of missions. Not only are the teams judged on how well the robot runs and completes the mission, they are also judged on how well the team can answer the judges' questions on the design, programming and strategy of their robot.
“Legos are the draw to the kids, but the learning portion of it is the presentation, the research of it,” said Coach Ron Dummer, in whose home most of the robotic programming and construction took place. “They can learn how to research, to work as a team and to come up with a solution as a team which is what we need in society for the future.”
Said Chris: “Teamwork gets you far in Legos.”
“Gracious Professionalism,” team member Ian added with a flourish, naming a concept that the First Lego League includes as part of it's training on sportsmanship.
Emily Wallace, David and Grace's mom, marvels at the team's abilities.
“To me what is so amazing is the range of skills, from tilting the vehicle, computer programming, doing the research, learning how to do a blog and writing, doing the skit and presentation. I think it's an amazing number of skills," she said.
Ron Dummer's 18 year old son, Jared, who was once himself a Lego team member and acts as a student mentor to the group, recognizes the special qualities that the ICU team embodies.
“Just seeing their imagination and enthusiasm...” he said before pausing. "I think this is the perfect set of kids to represent the First Lego League because of their passion, excitement, and enjoyment. Everything they do is just right for this competition and this program.”
For more information about the ICU Lego Team, check out their website.
