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Mission
The PTO's Robotics Program gives Adena's students unique opportunities to develop technical and team skills using LEGO building and robotic materials. For the 2008-2009 school year, we will attempt to offer as many opportunities as interest and adult resources will allow.
Latest News
In September, the Summer Robotics Academy students (rising third through sixth graders) showed off their work for their parents at a wrap event at Adena.
2008-2009 Robotics Opportunities
Last fall the new Robotics after school class "Build-a-Bot" for the younger students in grades 2-4 was a big hit. This year "Build-a-Bot will be replaced with another construction class - "Build-a-Kite" - to be offered in the winter session of the PTO After School Program..
The First Timer's Robotics class has been renamed to Basic Robotics Programming and is a prerequisite for the Challenge class and the competitive teams. The table below is a brief overview of the program offerings, with access to more detailed information in the sidebar.
Offering |
Grade |
Brief Description |
Time Frame |
Build-a-Bot After School Class
|
2-4 |
The emphasis of this after school class is on construction with Lego materials. Students will control the movement of their creations using pre-programmed robot controllers. |
Once a week for 5 weeks during Fall in alternate years |
Junior Lego Teams
|
3 |
Teams of 6 or less meet for a month to discuss and
build out of LEGOs their solution to a problem related to this year’s theme. They
also make a poster to assist them in presenting their ideas to reviewers. |
Team meetings in fall to prepare for Dec event |
| Summer Robot Academy | entering gr 3-6 in fall | Students build and program Mindstorm robots at home and collaborate with their group online to prepare for a concluding event held at the end of the summer at Adena. | Independently over the summer |
Basic Robotics Programming After School Class |
4-6 |
Students work together in pairs to build and
program autonomous LEGO robots. Programming fundamentals are emphasized. |
Once a week for 5 weeks usually during Winter, but
in Fall for 2008 |
Challenge After School Class |
4-6 |
Groups of 3-5 utilize
skills learned in First Timers class to accomplish bigger challenges. Problem solving and teamwork are emphasized. |
Once a week for 5 weeks during Spring |
Energy Transfer Science Lab |
5 |
All
fifth graders explore energy being transferred from mechanical to electrical, potential to
kinetic, as they build and power LEGO cars during Energy Transfer Science Lab. |
During science class |
Competitive FLL Teams |
5-6 |
Teams prepare for a FIRST LEGO League robotics
competition where their robot will attempt several challenges on a predefined obstacle
course. They will give a research project presentation, a technical presentation (how they
designed their robot), teamwork presentation (how they worked together or asked to perform
an impromptu task as a group), and robot performance presentation. |
Team meetings over the summer, 2-hour team
meetings twice a week from late Aug-Dec, individual work outside of team meetings,
Tournament in December, and possibly in January |
***Monies from a Proctor and Gamble grant for Lakota elementary school robotics and from the Adena PTO Science lab budget were used to purchase the robot kits, software, science lab car kits and other startup materials.***
For questions, more information, or to be added the the Adena Robotics e-mail mailing list, send an e-mail to Adena's Robotics Program Director.
