LEGO Robotics Moves into the Elementary Schools

	Members of Team Magma practice placing the dam across the river. Proper placement is worth 25 points in the competition.

Being the youngest team can have its advantages, as there are little or no expectations. Thirteen students in third through fifth grade at Penn Wood Elementary School have proven that age doesn’t always matter; teamwork can accomplish great things!

In creating these two teams (Team Magma and Team Galactic), Penn Wood Elementary School joined the district’s three middle schools in sending students to compete at the annual First LEGO League (FLL) robotic competitions.

In order to compete in the competitions, students ages 9 to 14 are challenged to find solutions to real world issues by completing two distinct phases. This year’s focus is on understanding the elements of energy use in a world that uses more and more energy every day. Students were required to evaluate the energy use in a community building, discuss their findings with experts, propose solutions to reduce consumption or use of an alternative energy, and share their ideas for changes with the community.

The second phase of the project requires the students to design, build, and program a autonomous robot using LEGO MINDSTORMS technologies. The robot is then instructed to perform various missions keeping within the boundaries of a model town. Missions include placing solar panels onto a roof of a building, moving wind turbines across the platform, placing a dam across a river, lowering panels on a satellite, and moving oil barrels off a platform. Students compete in a sports-like tournament to accomplish as many successful missions as possible in a timed period. Each mission completed successfully is worth a certain amount of points.

The youngest of the two Penn Wood Elementary School's robotics teams, members of Team Galactic work on programming their robot.

In order to qualify for placement in a regional competition, teams must successfully compete in a local qualifier event. At the December qualifier event in Oxford, Pennsylvania, Penn Wood Elementary School’s Team Magma received first place in Innovative Solutions, with the school’s Team Galactic being awarded second place for the Most Creative Presentation. Both teams received enough points to enable the students to move on to the regional level competition held in late January.

Of the 54 teams selected to compete in the 2008 Regional Tournament, the West Chester Area School District will be well represented by all three middle schools and the two youngest teams of the district.

 

		UPDATE
		As reported by Deborah Sahijwani, Gifted Resource teacher at Fugett Middle School, “All teams demonstrated teamwork, creativity, and sportsmanship” during the January 19th First Lego League Regional Tournament held at the University of Delaware. Fugett Middle School earned 2nd place for the Programming Award. At their qualifying events held on December 8, 2007, both Fugett and Peirce Middle Schools came away with awards; i.e. 1st place and 2nd place respectively for Innovative Solutions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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