Students at Washington STEM Academy Tuesday night had the opportunity to showcase projects using robotic Legos®.
Ben Barkey, STEM coach, said there were over 30 presentations by second- through sixth-grade students with more than 100 students participating.
Research projects included insect life cycles for monarchs, cicadas and dragon flies. The students researched habitats and predators and used robots made of Legos® to move paper clouds.
They learned how to program the Legos® to make the clouds move, and how to program the Lego® robot butterflies to move back and fourth.
“They learned creative thinking, collaboration and problem solving,” Barkey said.
Tom Ray, Washington principal, said the presentation allowed students to use their imagination and creativity to collaborate with other peers to dive deeper into learning.
“They are able to practice employable skills they will need when they are older, such as presenting,” Ray said.
Lucy Ray, Ray’s daughter, a third-grader at Washington, completed a project titled “Fantastic Femurs.”
She learned how bones are made and the different types of bones. She built a robot made of Legos® with her peers and programmed it to jump.
The students had a module where they learned about bones and muscles.
Finley Bailey and Tatum Bergan, both third-grade Washington students, worked on a project titled “Leaping Legs.”
They learned about cardiac muscles, how bones are made and about skeletal muscles. They programmed their robot to make it rise.
“I really enjoyed when we created the robot,” Bailey said.
Bergan said she enjoyed programming the robot to make it lift things.
(Story By The Times Union)
