Year 5 – Getting ‘Messy with Mindstorms’. This is what they produced using Mindstorms for the very first time – great creativity!
What does EV3 bring to learning?
“I love being in classrooms where everyone is learning; powering forward and desperate to succeed. After building their own brilliant, creative LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 robotic creations, the students will soon parade them around the room to much celebration or their robots will stumble to a halt, only to be whisked back to a table for a bit of re-engineering or re-programming.”
“This is the excitement of robotics. It is an area that asks students to test themselves, to take a risk and to explore. It builds resilience within students. Age doesn’t have to be a factor in terms of when you use Mindstorms – I’ve used it from university professors down to Year 4!”
“With Mindstorms, everything is based around the LEGO Mindstorms Intelligent Brick – the computer at the centre of the robot. You can then attach motors to it, using the LEGO elements – a simple robot can take just two or three minutes to build! Then using LEGO’s intuitive Mindstorms programming software you can soon get the robot moving around the classroom. The videos on this page show some great examples!
Together we build. Together we code. Together we learn!”
How will I know what to do?
“The honest answer – if you are just setting out – is keep it simple! It’s the key to great robotics and deep learning. Get simple robots up and running and then you can start to explore the possibilities. LEGO Education have put together some fantastic resources to support you. You can download the FREE Mindstorms EV3 software and resources to get a taste of some of these.”
What is the curriculum fit?
“The great thing about robotics is that it touches many subjects and can be at the very heart of Computing. There are some great FREE resources for all the STEM subjects, with a range of FREE resource packs available. There is even a FREE Computing Scheme of Work for Key Stage 3. It is quite long so I would pick and choose the best bits! Many of the activities are applicable at Key Stage 2.”
Tomorrow’s Engineers Robotics EEP Challenge – a great way of applying your robotics skills.
Opportunities galore!
“There are some great robotics competitions out there! Raising Robots are very active in two of the big ones – Tomorrow’s Engineers EEP Robotics Challenge and First LEGO League.
Both these competitions immerse young people in real-world technology and computing challenges. Over the course of a few weeks, students learn how to build, program and control autonomous LEGO robots in school, or in after-school clubs.
The challenges involve using these skills to complete a series of short space missions in teams using LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 sets. One of the many aims of the challenges is to inspire students to consider a career in engineering by giving them hands-on experience of robotics engineering, computing and software programming.
And obviously, the challenges are great fun and bring out the very best in young people!”
