Subject:
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Teaching (Mentoring?, Facilitating?) robotics; advice needed
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics.edu
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Date:
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Sun, 31 Oct 1999 16:43:31 GMT
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Viewed:
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3267 times
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I am about to embark on a great adventure with a dozen 5 to 11 year olds.
I've committed to running (or just starting, watching over, keeping peace
in) an after-school robotics club at my kids' elementary school. I will be
spending one hour a week each with groups of K-2nd grade and 3rd-5th grade,
6 kids in each group, working with the RIS set. The school is a gifted
magnet school (high potential kids, there by choice) and kids tend to be
brighter and better focused than average.
I HAVE LOTS OF QUESTIONS:
1) Is the RIS the right way to go with the K-2nd age group? I have,
heretically, looked at the K'NEX command-a-bot, a radio controlled 4-motor
construction set, as an alternative for the younger group. It seems easier
for them to construct a durable structure with knex, and the radio control
gets them to a performing robot without the need to get through programming.
And the price is right at $80 on sale. Any thoughts? Anyone worked with
this age group and LEGOs? Anyone tried Knex?
2) I currently have one RIS and one Search sub to provide supplies. Is that
enough materials to keep the 3-5 grade kids going? If not, what additions
are best advised, given that the budget is currently $0 (all additional $
need to be raised from ?, and I'd rather expend energy and time with kids
than raising money)
3) For the time being, I'm committed to the 1 hr/wk sessions, but I wonder
if this is an appropriate time period for the task. Is 1 hr enough to let a
kid work through a problem? http://www.lugnet.com/robotics/?n=7768
indicates that a longer time period is needed. do others agree?
4) Any suggestions for a sequence of activities? I am thinking "Get a robot
that functions ASAP" , so build one from the contructopedia and make it
operate, then go back and invent our own. Anyone have a better design to
offer? ( I have ldraw, mldraw)
5) I registered the club with FIRST LEGO League in anticipation of getting
active earlier in the year, but have not purchased the $100 Challenge set.
Since time is too short to participate in the scheduled '99 activities, is
the Challenge set still a good purchase? I know that the set includes an
additional motor and a rotation sensor, unknown other parts and
instructions, rules, playing field plans, etc. Is this worth it?
6) What is the best way to get in to RCXCode programming? Do I sit kids
down at the computer (one at a time?, in 2-person teams? as a group of 6
with me?) and run through the Mindstroms CD introduction?
Any advice, opinions, experiences are greatly appreciated. hopefully, many
others will be interested in putting this information to work with kids.
Rick Kirkwood
Jacksonville FL
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