The GearTicks’ Laura Appleby (second from right) and Evan Lee (far right) congratulate teams in a blue-wigged high-five line at the awards ceremony.
By Evan Lee
Dozens of students gathered at Lincoln School’s Reed Field House on November 17 for Lincoln Legopalooza, an exciting day of fun with LEGO robotics and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).
FIRST Lego League Jr. (FLLJr) is a new addition to Lincoln’s robotics programs, allowing students as young as 5 to enter the STEM world. For the past two months, small groups of K-3 students have been industriously working in teams building and programming LEGO models as well as creating a “ShowMe” poster documenting their process.
Each year, FIRST creates a challenge for teams to tackle. This year’s “Mission Moon” challenged teams to learn about the moon and how to support a living environment in a moon base. The GearTicks, Lincoln’s local robotics team, organized the Legopalooza—Massachusetts’ first FLLJr Expo this season. The team’s middle- and high-school students helped kick-start and mentor all six of Lincoln’s FLLJr teams, bringing them together at the event to showcase their work.
The students’ excitement shone through the entire day and their season, highlighted in their quirky team names. GearTicks members served as reviewers, evaluating each of the teams’ models and posters. Camille of team Moon Ice Cream explained their moon base’s sliding door: the team used sensors to automatically open and close it. Pointing to a printout of their WeDo block programming code, she aptly noted, “It’s really, really long! It took us most of [a whole meeting] to program.”Moon Ice Cream’s obstacle-avoiding car won them the Master Programmer award.
Debra Daugherty, the team’s coach, appreciated GearTicks team members’ mentoring role through the season. “They tried to get the kids to think for themselves and to problem solve instead of just handing them the answers. The kids loved the final product,” she said.
Team Galactic Bots was thrilled with their Inquiring Minds award.
Team Blast to the Past took a recreational approach for their moon base, including a central area with campfires and diving boards. The students’ focus on fun was evident as they proudly presented their model and poster. Each team won a unique award, recognizing the strengths of each of their presentations.
Legopalooza also had a slew of other fun activities for the kids. Imaginations ran wild at the LEGO free-build table, and students were able to give their medal name tags a unique personal touch with colorful LEGO studs and cones at the medal decoration table. The Green GearTicks FIRST LEGO League had a display alongside the GearTicks FIRST Tech Challenge robot, introducing the younger generation to the next steps in the organization’s progressions of competition and inspiring them to continue pursuing STEM activities.
The event was a significant step in fostering a culture of STEM with Lincoln’s young students. “The FIRST progression of programs is beautifully designed to increase the challenges as students grow,” said Tim Hawkey, a coach of both FLL and FTC teams. Richard Gammack agreed. “It’s incredible how rapidly they progress from simple fun toy robots to sophisticated, engineered, 3D printed and machined robots,” he said. “I was thrilled to share my love of STEM with these aspiring engineers, and I hope we continue to organize FLLJr teams and events in years to come!”
