Subject:
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Re: Mindstorms (more than just robotics?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Fri, 6 Nov 1998 22:55:14 GMT
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Original-From:
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Brian Stormont <brian@IHATESPAMprojo.com>
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Viewed:
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2302 times
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Swspoon@aol.com wrote:
> Is anyone else out there using Mindstorms to teach children building and
> programing skills? Do you have any ideas you would like to share?
While not in an official teaching capacity, I'm using Mindstorms to introduce
programming concepts to the 13 year old girl in my home. She worked through the
Mindstorm tutorials on the CD and then immediately wanted to stop following the CD
and build something of her own. She decided to build a "Doggie Treat Delivery
Car". The idea was to have the RCX drive around carrying dog biscuits and once
the biscuits were removed (by the pursuing hungry dogs in our house) the RCX would
stop driving.
I think the whole construction and programming process she went through working on
her car was a really good introduction to what programming and problem solving in
general is all about - your first attempt will almost always have some sort of bug
- but you then examine what went wrong and figure out how to correct it. Since
this wasn't a school test, I think she was more open to the idea of experimenting
a bit without worrying about things not working right on the first try. Also,
having a concrete physical object that also needed "debugging" appeared to be a
good counterpart to the more abstract debugging process involved in the actual
programming. She seemed a lot more comfortable trying to figure out design
problems with the actual lego pieces - the programming side was more of a
struggle. I had to provide some guidance on the programming side. This is her
first attempt at any sort of programming, so I think it was good progress. Also,
just the fact that she's eager to work on the project more is a good sign. :-)
-brian
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Mindstorms (more than just robotics?)
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| (...) I'm curious. What does she think of the programming environment? It she strugging to figure out how to use it and get it to do the things she wants? Or is she struggling because the programming environment is limited? I'm wondering because I (...) (26 years ago, 6-Nov-98, to lugnet.robotics)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Mindstorms (more than just robotics?)
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| In a message dated 11/6/98 8:46:45 AM Central Standard Time, lugnet.robotics@lugnet.com writes: << If you want to discuss 'LEGO side instead of hacking' in here, please just do so. >> I enjoy reading some of the technical letters but all of it is (...) (26 years ago, 6-Nov-98, to lugnet.robotics)
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