I'm thinking my daughter would get a kick out of Lego Robotics. She has an inquisitive mind and loves to solve puzzles/projects of various kinds. I've poked around a bit on the web and can't find a league/group near me. Any idea how to get started on this at home? I'm stumped as to where to begin. Any veterans have advice on this topic? Thanks!
I cant figure out how to copy a link from my phone. Go to engineeringforkids.com and see if they have any locations near you. They have Lego robotics classes.
This is not something you would do from home. It is fairly pricey and you really need a team to be able to do this. There are team presentations and you really need a couple of folks at a time to run the robot during the challenge. If you are part of a homeschool group you might want to see if they will sponsor you. Here is a link for the Ohio Lego League that shows some of the costs http://edoutreach.wpafb.af.mil/Robotics/pages/teaminfo_cost.html This is a link for info on getting a child involved http://www.firstlegoleague.org/parents/childonteam I can say dd was apart of a team this year and loved it. Our team actually made it to regionals and won the award for best robot.
That is REALLY cool! mschickie, what are the best parts and what are the drawbacks in your experience? I'm thinking of this for my nephew.
One of the best parts is that the kids learn to work as a team. They have to do a team presentation and then there is also a challenge on the day of competition where they have to work together to come up with a solution to a problem using what they are given. The kids also have the opportunity to learn how to research the topic. They are encouraged to find experts and interview them on whatever the challenge topic is. This past year was Nature's Furry and our team focused on tornado warnings. They actually had someone come in from Samaritan's Purse to discuss disaster response. They also had a scientist that they were emailing. Now some of the cons, the time commitment. The team meets at least once a week during Sept and Oct. Once Nov. hits they can be meeting 3-4 times a week depending on what they are working on. It was hard to get all the team together at times. Meetings were usually 2.5-3 hrs long. The other thing is the cost. Since we were new to the team our cost was higher(around $70 or so, next year we will be at $35). Now our team had quite a few sponsors too. Not only our homeschool group but, Xerox and Rochester Institute of Technology along with some other local businesses sponsored us which covered quite a bit of our expenses. I think this is an amazing program and if you have a chance to join a group I think it is well worth the time and money. I know that dd is so excited about next year. The theme next year will be something with education and technology. Oh and in our regional competition 1/5 of the teams consisted of all homeschoolers or had homeschoolers on their team.
Thanks for this insight! I really appreciate it. I'm going to start by checking into the link the prior poster cited and see what groups meet in my area.
Thanks for the help! I'll check out this link today and see if there are any groups in my area. Appreciate the insight!
GOOD LUCK!!! We tried for YEARS to find a team for Phillip! We knew someone, but that team was full (but there would be an opening next year!). Every year something came up that they kept putting him off. In the mean time, we tried looking for other teams. The web site was helpful for someone wanting to start a NEW team, but not for helping someone who wanted to join an EXISTING team. He finally got on the one team, and has loved it. There is a considerable time commitment, and there is a cost involved. But the team building is really done well! Their big thing is "gracious professionalism" (I think that's the phrase!), which allows for competition, but encourages sportsmanship and cooperation, even among competing teams.
I love the idea of gracious professionalism. Definitely important to learn how to engage in competition with grace and (perhaps feigned ; ) humility. The team aspect is certainly appealing, particularly since DD's an only child. Hard to mimic a team here at home....
