Thursday, October 2, 2008

Lego Engineers

In the past year the Lego company has piloted a program to help kids ages 7-11 get a start in becoming engineers. They are providing a hands-on experience that allows kids to be active participants in their own learning. It requires students to think creatively, work as a team and problem solve throughout the process, all skills that are important to us in the 21st century.
Student create robots out of legos that are connected to a computer so that they move. The ultimate test is for the students robot to act as a goalie and keep a small soccer ball coming at them from entering the goal.
This technology was featured at the NECC '08 conference this summer in San Antonio and will be released to the public in January of 2009. For more information read the following articles: Lego Product Targets Youngsters Interested in Computer Engineering and Lego Education.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

For those in the Rapid City area, the YMCA science center has a wonderful lego collection! There's a $2.00 per person admission charge if you're not a Y member; it's only $1.00 for members. I spent two very happy hours there last week with my favorite six-year old. He loved the magnet wall, too!