9/28/2016 Meeting

Robot Game
The lego pieces that we use for the robots are very different than the pieces that you would typically get in a generic bundle.  You might see some of these pieces in a lego set, but they are quite different.

The blue team (which is mostly the younger kids), are having difficulties with the new pieces.  The first time I was introduced to these pieces, I had difficulty understanding how to use them and build the things I wanted.

Both teams got to do some programming on their robots this week.  For a lot of kids this is their first time doing any programming, and for most, it is the first time programming a Mindstorm.  They did a great job working together to create the programs and make changes to them.

Team Building
We did a couple of team building exercises today.  Before everyone arrived, we did an exercise where the team had to help guide a person through an obstacle course with his/her eyes closed.  They learned that giving precise directions works better than imprecise instructions since the person navigating the obstacles has no idea what to do other than what they are told.

They also found that having one voice for a task like this makes it much easier for the person navigating the obstacle course.

We did another team building exercise that taught the kids a similar lesson.  We had them line up and try to put their foot on the line at the same time.  If all of the kids talked at the same time, they couldn't do it.  If they had one leader, they were much more able to complete the task successfully.

Project
The kids were asked to come up with some ideas for the animal they wanted to do their project on last week.  Tonight they presented their ideas and voted on which animal they wanted to investigate further.

<More to be added later>

9/21/2016 Meeting

Last week we divided the kids into two teams.  We simply divided down the middle by age and called one team the green team (generally the older kids), and the other the blue team (generally the  younger kids).

The 20 kids we have are all pretty close to the same age overall, so the age split was pretty arbitrary.  Today we made some adjustments to the teams.  There were a couple of kids that wanted to switch teams so they could be with friends.  Everyone was very accommodating and we made the switch easily.

Robot Build (Green team)
We started with the robot from last year.  The kids decided that they wanted to keep the robot design as it was from last year rather than tearing it apart and starting again.

They added a second color sensor.  Some of us had watched a video showing that two sensors would allow the robot to do a line follow much more efficiently.  They also designed a pusher to add to the front to allow them to move a model from the base into a box on the map.  We found some problems with the design and worked through them.  The meeting ended before we were able to finish the pusher.

Robot Build (Blue team)
We spent some time looking at robot designs from other teams.  Since we don't have the new robot, we used an older "brick" to attach the wheels and motors to.   The "birck" is the computer.

We were able to get a basic robot built with three wheels.  Next week we will start looking at what attachments we need to add to the robot to start tackling missions.

Team building
We want the teams to work together as a team, and since many of the kids don't really know each other, we did a team building exercise to help them get to know each other.  We had a sheet with a bunch of comments like, "I have been outside the US", "I have met someone famous", etc.

When the kids started out, both green and blue team found the most efficient way of filling out the form, but this turns out to be the least effective at getting to know each other.  They were simply passing the paper around and kids would fill their name in where they matched the statement.

After making sure they talked about what they had written on the page, they all got a chance to learn about each other.

Project
Today both groups learned about the Project Process.  This year’s mission is to make our interactions with animals benefit all of us.  Students will work for weeks to prepare a project and presentation based on a problem of their choosing.  To prepare them for their task, we studied four sample situations in which they learned to identify a relationship between humans and animals and then discussed the problem and resulting solution.  The solution may be an invention or idea that improves the current situation.

The first step of the Project Process is to identify a specific problem with the way people interact with a certain animal.  Each team must decide on an animal and a problem.  This week, we asked the kids to spend some time researching so that their team may vote next Wednesday and we can move forward.  

9/14/2016 Meeting information

Thanks for allowing your kids to join the First Lego League team this year.  Today was probably less than exciting for the kids.  We had a lot of administrative stuff to go over, like dividing up the teams, and explaining what First Lego League is.

We watched a few videos from First Lego League explaining this year's robot game as well as the project.  The kids got to see the board and last year's robot.  Some of the kids were able to see the application used to program the robot.  They started brainstorming some ideas around how to complete some of the missions.

I wanted to share some additional information with the families.  We have a blog, a facebook page, a twitter account and a YouTube channel.

Blog: http://dexbots-2016.blogspot.com/

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1866483196904588/

Twitter account: @dexbotsFLLTeam

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJw9acal5aYG7sx0UiIjdcg

We encourage the students to do some work on this at home.  This is an extracurricular activity and should come after other responsibilities (like school work).

As we get closer to the tournament date, we may want to increase our meeting times or try to meet more often.  The first tournament should be in November/December timeframe.  As soon as we have information about which tournament we will be part of, we will share it with you.  If your child cannot make it to any or all of these meetings, that is okay. However, we would appreciate it if they can make it, for all or part of the extra meetings.

Lastly, before I lose all of you to the length of this email, this year's project is all about our Animal Allies.  We are looking at ways in which we interact with animals, and looking for ways to improve those interactions for either the people involved, or the animals.  We need to speak with professionals  as part of this.  If you know of anyone who has a profession dealing with animals, and would be willing to either come talk to the kids, or would be willing to answer questions from the kids, please let us know.  Some examples would include a farm manager, a rancher, a veterinarian or a zookeeper.

In Dexter Schools!

We are excited that we will finally be offering this through the school!  This will allow us to get more kids involved and hopefully we can get some more support from the community.  You can view details and sign up here.

We have been doing some work with the Dreadbots high school team and may be able to get some support from the high school students during the season.  We are so grateful that we live in such a supportive community.

Next week, on August 30th, First Lego will be announcing the challenge. We know that the theme this year is Animal Allies.  You can see more information here.