Lego camp offers a chance to fall in love with science, engineering (video)
Published: Friday, July 22, 2011
By LINDA STEIN
Journal Register News Service
TOWAMENCIN — How do you make a better mouse trap? Some kids taking the Lego Robotics Camp through the North Penn School District Community Education Program have some ideas.
A group of boys busily tested the mouse traps that they had created using Legos, sensors and computer programing. The traps would close on live white mice, lured inside by food. The mice, which were not harmed by the kids’ experiment, found ways to wiggle free of the traps.
“We’re trying to make a mouse trap,” said Noah Wendt, 12, of Lansdale, a student at Penndale Middle School. “When the sensor detects a mouse, it closes.”
“I love it. It’s fun,” said Alex Sieberer, 12, of Lansdale, also a Penndale student. “This is my second year.”
Michael Voicheck, who teaches engineering and technology classes at North Penn High School, runs the camp, which has been offered for the last five years.
A grant from the North Penn School District Educational Foundation funded the initial session, he said.
Another group of boys who had not taken the camp before programmed robots to push blocks out of a circle within 90 seconds. After they completed that task, Voicheck set them to programming their robots to follow along a line drawn in a circle.
“The kids are given a series of tasks,” said Voicheck. They work on the problems with a partner. “We’re replicating real-world applications.”
Joseph Thompson, 13, of Montgomery Township, a student at the Souderton Charter School Collaborative, explained how he sent different programming commands to a Lego “brain” that controlled his robot via Bluetooth.
Joe Wermuth, 12, of Upper Gwynedd, a student at Pennbrook Middle School, discussed how he was using a “logic loop” to program his robot.
Samit Thawani, 10, a student at Gwyn-Nor Elementary School, said he likes the camp because he “gets to design robots.”
“By the end of the week the goal is to get them to learn how to program,” said Voicheck said. “And also to love science and engineering. The Lego robotics kits are not just for kids. They are so powerful, from kids as young as 6 to engineers tinkering in their garage. It’s fun.”
http://www.timesherald.com/video/?va_id=2672759&pl_id=21466&ref=syndVoicheck added, “It blows my mind what you can do with these (Legos). I thoroughly enjoy working with middle school students. They’re so much fun. I love seeing that ‘ah-ha’ moment. ‘It works. It works.’ That’s problem solving.
“That’s the kind of toys kids need to be playing with, not video games,” Voicheck said.
