Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Gallery (click any photo to view the gallery)

Fifth-graders at Stonewall make last-minute adjustments to their LEGO robots and accessories.

Don’t let the bright primary colors fool you – LEGOs were more than child’s play for teams of Fayette County Public Schools students competing to use the familiar blocks to solve an environmental challenge.

With pizza slices in hand, kids at Bryan Station Traditional Magnet School chose sides and debated their team names amid last-minute preparation for the LEGO robotics showdown. Across town at Stonewall Elementary, youngsters rotated among their game mat, nearby laptops and boxes of LEGO pieces – busily adjusting robot arms and stabilizing wheels.

“You measure out how far it’s going and place the blocks on the (computer) grid,” Stonewall fifth-grader Harrison Fields explained as he worked to program one robot’s route and functions.

The hum of activity also peaked at Liberty and Millcreek Elementary as students from several schools readied for Saturday’s regional contest, held at the University of Kentucky’s Student Center. (See the Dec. 6 results below.)

The FIRST LEGO League coordinates the international competition for elementary and middle school students. Each year the contest focuses on a different real-world topic related to the sciences, and each challenge within the competition revolves around that theme.

“This year it’s Climate Connections. Each team had to research an issue or problem dealing with climate in the area they live in. Then they had to create an innovation solution,” said Leanna Prater, a district technology resource teacher. “The field mat is the coolest thing to watch,” she said, citing the detailed game board. “Their job is to move (LEGO) pieces to certain locations or manipulate pieces on the mat.”

Teams of students design and program their autonomous LEGO robots to complete certain tasks, such as raising a flood barrier, opening a window or delivering an ice buoy. The missions the teams choose, and how they complete them, are what make the challenge an exercise in strategic thinking.

“The robot has to be able to push things, pull things, lift things – those kinds of moves. So the kids have to think of arms or attachments to get those tasks done,” Prater explained. “Then you get so many points based on movements. The idea is to get as many points as you can within two-and-a-half minutes.”

Two boys at Bryan Station had the right idea late Friday afternoon. “It takes estimation and good timing,” eighth-grader Trevor Anderson-Cooper said as he measured and marked where to place his robot near one corner of the rectangular game mat.

“You can build it however you want, but you need to have it do what it needs to accomplish,” sixth-grader Noah Dehart added.

Sue Hughes, the orchestra teacher at Bryan Station, is new to the Student Technology Leadership Program. But with STLP coordinators leading the LEGO teams, she dove right in. “It has been just a little crazy but a whole lot of fun,” Hughes said.

One of her teams used PowerPoint to spotlight icy roads and explain how Lexington handles the problem in winter. Meanwhile at Stonewall Elementary, one group videotaped a skit to showcase their climate research.

“Ours is like a newscast with anchors and interviewers,” fifth-grader Haley Potter said as a handful of girls polished the script, which included a talking rainbow trout and blackbird.

First-year coach Veronica Covington called the FIRST LEGO competition an opportunity to ignite interest in certain fields. “I hope it gives them a glimpse into math and science careers,” she said.

That might be the direction fifth-grader Mitchell Slavik is leaning. “If you walked into my room (at home) and just looked at my shelf, you’d know I was a big LEGO fan,” he said.

More about the competition:

Fifteen teams from several counties, including seven from Fayette County Public Schools, competed in the FIRST LEGO League regional contest Dec. 6 at the University of Kentucky. The teams were judged in four categories: research project, technical presentation, teamwork and field event (the robot activity).

Among the regional awards Dec. 6: