Embedded Files
Trinity's D-Lab Jr. After the Bell Robotics
Trinity's D-Lab Jr. After the Bell Robotics
In the Fall of 2019, students met once a week for 12 weeks to work on the Boomtown Build FLL Junior Challenge. They were arranged into three small teams and work through a series of explorations designed by the makers of the FIRST Lego League Junior challenge
What if you could build a better world? Where would you begin?
More than ever, we must come together to innovate and solve problems. In FIRST®, you are part of a thriving community brimming with inspiration, creativity, and hope for a stronger, more sustainable future—one that’s built better together. You have the power to help the cities, towns, and places you call home reach new heights. With the support of the FIRST community, this is your opportunity to lead our future forward—and up.
Each year, FIRST LEGO League Jr. presents a new and exciting Challenge to ignite the creativity of children age 6 to 10. See FLL Jr.'s 2019-20 kickoff video.
Intro:
We learned about the BoomTown Build challenge and talked about the growing city we live in. We used the Street View feature of Google Maps to explore buildings in Austin and drew pictures of our favorite ones, including some from our imagination. Students then did brisk "mini builds" and represented those ideas with classic Lego bricks.
Teams prepped their Boomtown Build building sites and constructed hand-operated cranes with instructions from our Inspiration sets (see the Boomtown Build Inspire model in action). Some groups also had time to construct the optional Spy Robot which used a distance sensor to warn of danger (with an alarm sound) if an object came close to the building site.
We discussed what it means to be an engineer and watched an Intro to Engineering video (2:42) from NASA. Testing and teamwork were BIG themes. Teams then built two-floor buildings (see our references) with LEGO elements from our Inspire Sets. They added motors (from the Lego WeDo sets) to their cranes and tested code to make them deliver loads of "building material" to the second floor.
Step 1: Make It Accessible
Team members explored how to design accessible buildings and built models of an elevator and a door opening mechanism with the LEGO WeDo motors. Some groups also added motion sensors that sensed when a figure approached and triggered the automatic opening of the door.
Make It Environmentally Friendly. We looked at examples of buildings that use sustainable building materials, eco-friendly insulation, living roofs, and water recycling systems. Groups built models of wind turbines and took it further by designing models of buildings that blend into the surrounding environment or help local wildlife.
Make it Durable. We briefly discussed natural disasters that could affect living communities and brainstormed ways structure could be built for durability. Teams made earthquakes simulators with a single motor and programmed them to shake LEGO buildings at different magnitudes.
Step 2: Boomtown Builds
Teams are create Boomtown Builds that:
have a footprint no larger than 15" x 30"
include original LEGO-made models of architectural features addressing accessibility, durability, and/or environmental friendliness.
integrate at least one motorized element
integrate the Crane model that you see in many of our pictures.
Step 3: Show Me Posters
In addition to a Boomtown Build, teams will create Show Me Posters with words, drawings, and photos and even potentially well-secured small objects. Posters will have 3 main parts:
Explore - Designing Buildings and Challenges and Solutions
Create and Test - Our Boomtown Build and Our WeDo 2.0 Program
Share - Our team (lessons in Teamwork and Fun)
Step 4: Prepare to Share
When the Boomtown Builds and Show Me Posters are complete, teams will practice giving presentations that include:
personal introduction that is fun and engaging
description of Boomtown Builds and posters
explanation of how the programming works
identification of challenges solve
In lieu of an official FLL Junior Expo, Trinity students presented to 300 of their friends and parents during Community Time: see the script here and video above.
Spring Lego Robotics ATB class:
This weekly class utilized the WeDo Lego robotics and SPIKE Prime kits but did not adhere to the FLL Junior Boomtown Challenge nor did students work in prescribed teams in quite the same manner.
Report abuse