6th grade

FIRST LEGO League

For the past ten years, CSI has participated in the FIRST (For the Inspiration of Science and Technology) Lego League Competition.  Every year, FIRST LEGO League releases a Challenge, which is based on a real-world scientific topic.  Each challenge has three parts: the Robot Game, the Project, and the Core Values. Teams of up to ten children, with at least two adult coaches, participate in the Challenge by programming an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field (Robot Game), developing a solution to a problem they have identified (Project), all guided by the FIRST LEGO League Core Values.  Our teams then attend an official tournament in the East Texas Region.  

Cell City

“Cells, Cells they’re made of organelles.”  Doctors Flora and Fauna Organelle introduce this complex unit of cell study and creativity.  Students learn to identify the organelles and their functions for both plant and animal cells. They construct accurate life size animal cells using measurements and calculations. Students “create” monster families in a genetics lab that introduces patterns of inheritance as well as punnet squares and a hands-on problem-solving lab demonstrates passive and active transport through the cell membrane. Students take this knowledge to make a graphic analogy between a cell and the place of their choosing.  The analogy must include organelle connections and descriptions.   An Ozobot path is added to the graphic design; highlighting selected organelles. Analogies are then presented to a select audience.