Dear Bloggers,

Yesterday the Gordon East Public School Team ‘Trashmendous’ competed in the First Lego League  Trash Trek 2015-2016 Regional Competition at Macquarie University.

36 teams of children aged 9 to 16 years old participated and we were one of the 4 teams that will progress onto the National FLL Challenge in December 2015.    Congratulations Trashmendous…you sure are Tremendous.

The Trash Trek involves 3 components:

Core Values and Gracious Professionalism

Research project and Presentation

Robot games.

 

Core Values and Gracious Professionalism

This is what FIRSTS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THIS………….The FLL Core Values are the cornerstones of the FLL program. They are among the fundamental elements that distinguish FLL from other programs of its kind. By embracing the Core Values, participants learn that friendly competition and mutual gain are not separate goals, and that helping one another is the foundation of teamwork. We are a team. We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors. We know our coaches and mentors don’t have all the answers; we learn together. We honour the spirit of friendly competition. What we discover is more important than what we win. We share our experiences with others. We display Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition® in everything we do.

GP1 – Gracious Professionalism® – You are “Gracious Professionals.”
●● You compete hard against PROBLEMS, while treating PEOPLE with respect and kindness – people from your own team,
as well as other teams, and other countries.
●● Coaches and parents lead by example.
●● You build onto other people’s ideas instead of resisting or defeating them.

We were very honoured to receive the ‘Gracious Professionalism award’.  This is quintessentially what the whole competition is about…students working together in teams, respecting, helping, inspiring, encouraging and learning together whilst having fun in the process.    I believe ‘Gracious Professionalism’ under pins the students’ future happiness and success in life and we can not ask for any more than that.

 

Presentation and Research Project

This is what the students were asked to do:

Identify a Problem To begin your TRASH TREK project, choose a piece of rubbish and identify a problem with the way it is currently handled. Look for problems with the way we make, transport, store, or turn trash into something new.

Research and find out about the current solutions. Why aren’t the current solutions working? Why does this problem still exist?

Design an Innovative Solution to your problem. A solution that adds value to society  by improving something that already exists in a new way or inventing something totally new.

Once you design your solution, share it!

Present Your Solution at a Tournament Finally, prepare a presentation to share your work with the judges at a tournament. Your presentation can include posters, slideshows, models, multimedia clips, props, costumes, and more. Be creative, but also make sure you cover all the essential information.

Trashmendous carried out a rubbish audit at school and found lots of uneaten food thrown into the bin.  Their FLL mission was to reduce this.

Here is the team at the presentation

 Robot Games

The robot games have many missions which vary in difficulty and number of points awarded.  There are clearly defined rules and penalties.  It is not possible to achieve all challenges so the students plan strategies for the missions they will accomplish.  Arms and attachments must be designed to carry out the challenges and programs written.  This is open ended problem solving at its best.

Under pinning this the Robot Games are developed and produced so students can:
• have fun with science and technology, gaining confidence, knowledge, and skill at the same time.
• practice taking risks and innovating in a team setting.

Here are some pictures of our team in action

Here is a video of their Bot in action

 

The team were interviewed and questioned about their robot design and programming.

 Throughout the day there were:

Lots of smiles

 

More serious moments

Less serious moments –  Dancing

Cheering

 

 And most of all WE HAD FUN

 

 

 

Thanks for calling by

 

Mrs Garlick