Kelly Creek Community School principal Bill Rounis could not wait to open a particular box on the morning of Friday, April 29.
Inside was Lego, and not just traditional Lego, but Lego robotics.
Kelly Creek is the first School District 47 school to introduce the skill of robotics, and teachers and students are excited.
“The fact that you combine Lego, which everyone likes to play with, then you start to realize that to play is learning, that’s the part that’s super exciting,” said Rounis.
Lego Mindstorms education kits can be integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics changes implemented this year as part of the BC provincial curriculum.
According to Rounis, those classes are not unique. They cross over and robotics is an example, combining all of those disciplines that make a new way of learning for students, he said.
“Look at the new curriculum, the biggest one is the thinking piece, the creative thinking, and the big idea,” said Rounis. “The other thing is blending of course work; there isn’t just math or science, so we’re going to be doing that all together.”
Like any Lego kit, instructions on how to build a robot are included and some training is involved while learning on the go. At some point, instructions give way to imagination.
School district information technology manager Karl Childress brought the idea for a robotics program to the school district.
“I was waiting for someone to come along who was interested in doing it,” said Childress. “I hadn’t found any of our schools that wanted to run with it. [Rounis] was the first one to come to express interest. I’m really excited about it.”
According to Childress, automation will be the next big thing, especially in the transportation industry, and students at Kelly Creek have the opportunity to be at the forefront.
Grade six student Andrew Durie did not require instructions when he was shown the Lego kit. In less than 10 minutes, he had started to put the pieces together. Childress would not have been surprised if, given another hour, the youngster would have built a functioning robot, he said.
“There is some computer access piece that allows you to do some programming and also gives you some hints,” said Rounis. “Some Lego pieces tell you to put this piece to that piece and that piece, and this will happen.”
Robots can be taught to move a certain way as well as generate a certain amount of power, said Rounis.
“There’s one where you create a wind generator and another one that’s solar,” he added.
Competitive games are played, including who can make their robot pick up the most pencils.
“All of those activities summarize the learning component; then there’s just the straight out play,” said Rounis. “We’re so excited about it.”
