FIRST LEGO League Robotics

Our FIRST LEGO League team members were so excited when they qualified for the tournament at Legoland! Servo Squad, the Museum School's robotics team, had spent more than a month preparing for the qualifying tournament. They built and programed their robot, created a project to present, and strived to work together as a cohesive team, following the FIRST Core Values. 

The FIRST LEGO League Challenge is for children aged nine to sixteen (there are additional programs for various ages). Students use creative problem solving as they design and build LEGO robots and program them to complete challenges that consist of manipulating objects made of LEGOs placed on a table covered with the Field Mat.

The theme and challenges teams complete change each year. Registered teams receive LEGO pieces for building objects needed for the challenges along with the Field Mat, which fits onto a table supplied by the team. (Our table was built by a team member's parent to meet the specifications.) Once set up, students have a near duplicate of the "playing field" they will use at an event.

At an FLL event, teams receive points for the challenges their robot completes. They are also judged on their robot design. Servo Squad was proud to take home a second-place trophy for robot design at a qualifier, and the points they gained in this area helped them move on to the next level of competition.

A third piece of the FIRST  LEGO League Challenge is the project. Students design a solution to a given problem that is centered around that year's theme. They must build or draw a prototype of their solution, and present it to judges at the tournament.

The fourth component of the competition is my personal favorite: following the FIRST  Core Values. Teams actually receive points for their conduct, and we found that this can truly be a game changer! I am proud to share that Servo Squad performed exceptionally well in the area of Core Values, winning a first-place trophy one year.  

The students' ability to follow the Core Values is tested while preparing for and taking part in FLL events, which can put teams under pressure. At the events, students must stay positive and keep their cool while presenting their robot and their project in front of judges. The most pressure seems to be on the robot operators, who launch their robots onto the playing field with music blaring, cameras on their robots, and announcers describing every outcome. 

Through all of this, the FIRST  Core Values encourage students to exhibit "Gracious Professionalism"  and "Coopertition", and to remember to have fun! 

After getting through some challenges related to team cohesion, Servo Squad learned the importance of teamwork and staying positive. When they got to the Legoland tournament, their robots did not perform as well as they had hoped. Despite this, they kept smiles on their faces and supported one another in enjoying themselves. The judges were so impressed with their upbeat attitude that the team walked away with the Judges' Award at the end of the tournament!

Focusing on the FIRST  Core Values is a key part of the learning experience as teams prepare for and participate in an FLL event.

One of the barriers to taking part in the FIRST  LEGO League Challenge can be the high cost of the robot and registration. Teams often fund raise to help with these costs. Our team decided to offer reasonably-priced after-school robotics classes to students in younger grades. This helped a bit with the cost and gave team members the experience of teaching and mentoring potential future members of the robotics team.

When students participate in the FIRST  LEGO League Challenge, they gain skills in programming, creative problem solving, and working on a team, all the while focusing on positive values that will serve them lifelong.

If you are interested in learning more about FIRST  LEGO League, you can follow this link:

https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/fll

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Drooling Pumpkin Chemistry Lab for Halloween

 

In this Halloween chemistry lab, students create a jack-o-lantern that foams at the mouth! You can use the lab to address NGSS standard MS-PS1-2 as students observe properties of the reactant (hydrogen peroxide) and the bubbly products of the reaction.

I have used the "drooling pumpkin lab" with students in seventh and eighth grade. The class size has usually been about twenty-five students, and there has always been another adult in the room with me. This is helpful for managing materials and spills and to keep an eye on safety because sharp tools are required to carve the pumpkins. Students usually keep their behavior in check because they are excited to do the lab and know that safe behavior is a requirement for participation.

Students work at tables in pairs or small groups. They start by carving their pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern.

Before carving the pumpkins, be sure to put them onto a tray or paper to protect the tables because it gets messy! Suggest to students that positioning the jack-o-lantern's grin lower on the pumpkin will help the reactants flow out of its mouth. (After carving the pumpkins, you will have lots of seeds, so you could ask parents ahead of time if they would like to take some home to roast in the oven.) Depending on how much time you have with students, carving the pumpkins alone can take a full class period.

The reaction used to create the foam that oozes out of the jack-o-lantern's mouth is the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, a liquid easily found in solution at pharmacies. Yeast is used as a catalyst in the reaction, so this is a good opportunity to teach students how a catalyst does not take part in the reaction but merely helps it happen. (I found a one-pound bag of yeast online and stored it in the freezer for many years.)

To activate the yeast, student groups mix a few tablespoons of yeast with a few tablespoons of lukewarm water in a small container and let it sit for about 5 minutes, forming a paste. Meanwhile, students pour about 1 cup of hydrogen peroxide solution into another small container and mix in a few drops of dish detergent. (I recommend using an unscented soap for students sensitive to smells.) The dish detergent will capture the bubbles produced by the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, creating a foam.

Students lower the container of hydrogen peroxide solution with dish detergent into the jack-o-lantern, add the yeast paste, and stir. Soon, the reactants flow out of the pumpkin's mouth, causing it to drool! In some cases, positioning the container of hydrogen peroxide close to the jack-o-lantern's mouth can help students get this effect.

So, where did the bubbles come from? Yeast speeds up the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into hydrogen and oxygen, and these gases are captured by the soap, creating the foam. Students can easily see that a chemical reaction has occurred!

If you are interested in other fun chemistry labs, you might like this blogpost on making "gel worms":

https://www.scientificcreative.com/2022/05/polymer-lab-gel-worms.html

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