National First Lego League and Beyond

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

On Saturday 5^th of December, Gordon East Public School’s mighty team, ‘Trashmendous ’competed at the National First Lego League Competition at Macquarie University. There were 46 teams from around Australia competing in the Trash Trek and the atmosphere was pumped and positively buzzing. The standard of work from all the teams was extremely high and it was very stimulating seeing and speaking to the other teams about their robots, models and work.

Our team has been working very hard since the challenge was released in August and this showed. Ms Simmonds, the parents and I were so proud as the whole day the students worked as a respectful, helpful, interactive and cohesive unit. Their excellent team work won them the ‘National Teamwork Award’. We were thrilled beyond belief to find out that we were one of a select number of teams that will be progressing to International First Lego League. We will find out the details of this over the next few weeks. Well done team…what a phenomenal achievement. This is even more impressive given the competition is for children 9 to 16 years of age and our little cohort of champs are 11 and 12 years old

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.

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 the Bot in action

The children were also judged on their robot design, programming, strategies and their design journey.

Here is a look at some of the competition –

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.

Ford is a major sponsor and they brought a Ford Mustang along and the team were pretty comfortable in the convertible.

Here is the team having some down time in the pits sitting on a bean bag filled with recycled bottles.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Stage 2 Gifted and Talented Excursion to Mac ICT C.R.E.A.T.E Maker Day

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Last Week 24 gifted and talented students from GEPS attended a Maker C.R.E.A.T.E Bootcamp at Macquarie ICT Innovations Centre. We all had a wonderful day and learnt and experienced so much.

In the morning the children worked in pairs and used recycled materials and Little Bits electronics parts to make an automatic bin lid opener.

Here is a video of three devices in action and their proud creators.

Have a peep at the photos of the children in action…look at the high level of engagement and team work!!

In the afternoon the students worked individually to design and make their own electronic device using recycled materials, battery and a buzzer or a light. Here are some of the wonderful creations.

A dog with a light up nose.

Money boxes with paper clips on the inside that light up when a coin completes the circuit.

Fire engines with flashing lights

and many more creations

It was a fabulous…thanks John Burfoot who did a tremendous job presenting and running the day and the wonderful team at Mac ICT.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

First Lego League Regional Competition Macquarie University October 31st 2015

Posted on November 2, 2015 by Jennifer Garlick

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

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:

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!

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

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

An Elevator for the Building Site

Posted on September 12, 2015 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

This term in Lego Robotics 4l and 4/3A have been working on an open ended problem solving activity to design , make and program an elevator that successfully moves Max and Mia between levels in a building on the Construction Site.

Here is what students were asked to do:

Study the mechanisms in the cranes and/or forklifts they built in previous terms and use one, both or a modification of these to design and build a functioning elevator. The forklift had smooth tiles to reduce friction, the crane used a counterbalance and both had tilt sensor controls. Students were encouraged to incorporate these features into their models where appropriate.
Create a report using one of the forms below:

two minute video
poster with photos and/or drawings
written report with photos and/or drawings
two minute speech to the class including photos and demonstration of your elevator
power point presentation
any other ideas welcome…but you must get permission from your teacher first.

Material to be covered in the report

Clearly explain how your elevator works using technical language. Where possible demonstrate your working elevator.
Show and explain the programs you used. (Screen shots can be good for this).
Outline at least one problem you had whilst designing, building and programming your elevator. Explain how you overcame this problem.
What are three things you like about your elevator?
How could you make your elevator even better? Why would this be good?

Here are some of the models.

These elevators used friction reducing tiles to create an elevator shaft. As a result the elevators ran up and down very smoothly and stayed on track at all times.

This model had a rectangular prism shaped lift shaft which was made strong with good use of triangles for bracing. Some students created tilt sensor controllers and the programming for these is shown below.

Some of the elevators had a more crane-like mechanism and used counterweights.

Other examples of programming included use of keyboard commands to control the direction of the movement of the motors, addition of sounds and displays and creating of messages on the displays.

This program counted down before the lift started.

Other students incorporated sensors into their programs.

Here are some videos of our children in action.

Here is some of the written work from the students’ reports.

Our Elevator by Lucy and Tilly

This is our elevator. The mechanism is similar to the crane’s mechanism it doesn’t build up much momentum so it stops very fast. When we press ‘t’ on the keyboard, the lift manoeuvres upwards because the power from the computer travels through the hub into the motor where it is used to spin around a small axle. Attached to the axle is a yellow bushing which connects to a belt-driven pulley. The belt-driven pulley is connected to an axle which also has a cotton reel on it. Tied to the cotton reel is some thread on the end of which is the lift. When everything begins to move the thread winds around the cotton reel and the lift ascends. Then when we press ‘l’ on the key board the opposite happens. We added some sounds and back grounds which are: a reef setting changing to a cave setting and a siren warning everybody to move out of the way because it is a building. by Lucy and Tilly

Our Elevator by Serina

Our elevator works like this:

The computer generates the power for the hub. When the hub starts, the motor can activate. The axle that is in the motor rotates. There is a pulley, with a string attached to it. When the axle rotates the pulley, the string wraps around the axle and at the same time the string with attachments begins to get shorter and the elevator carriage goes up.

We also have placed a tilt sensor on the hub. When one of us uses the tilt sensor we can control the elevator. For example, pretend I was using the tilt sensor. If I tilted it upwards the elevator would go up. Visa versa.

Oh! We have a problem the elevator the elevator isn’t stable. But we couldn’t fix it. We like how the elevator shoots upwards and it’s funny when it does a little flip and goes over to the other side.

We liked how there were little problems and we overcame them. We also liked designing our model and how the actual model changed a lot from the plan.

I think we could make our elevator better by making it more stable and more technical. I think this would be good because then we’d have an elevator that doesn’t fall over and collapse.

We worked together to build the model, work out the problems and write the program. Other than the model falling down at times, I think we did really well.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Years 5 and 6 Alien Attack on NXTopia

Posted on August 1, 2015 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

Years 5 and 6 have been busy on the distant planet NXTopia. They discovered life and programmed their Bots to move in a figure of 8 around the Aliens to see whether they were friend or foe. Alas the Aliens were not friendly so the students were briefed to design and build a robot with an attacking arm and defensive feature such as a shield. Students programmed their robots to move 1metre up to the alien, attack it and then hastily retreat. PLease see the photos and videos below.

Click the link below to see a video of the Bots in action.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

Sneak Peek of the Girls FLL Robot in action.

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

The girls FLL team, now officially called the Robotic Foodies, is all ready to compete in the National FLL Competition at Macquarie University this Saturday. Here is a little look at their robot in action…and it can do so much more.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

3/2S and 3C Face a Dreadful Storm

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

3/2S and 3C built and programmed a boat that was tossed about in a storm. The children wrote ‘Captain’s Logs’ detailing what was happening to the boat. Many students designed their own vessels and here are some pictures and videos of ‘Bucking Bulls’, ‘Rubber Ducks’, ‘Sea monsters’ and ships moving through the great storm front.

Here are some of the Captain’s Logs.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

4L and 4/3N save Rapunzel

Posted on November 17, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

4L and 4/3N have been very busy saving Rapunzel from her tower.

About 6 weeks ago a paper plane came flying mysteriously into our room. This is what it said.

Hello I am your friend Rapunzel. Do you remember me? I am the girl with long flowing golden hair who you rescued from the tower at the beginning of this term. I have some devastating news. After you kindly saved me I did not live happily ever after…alas the witch caught me again and put me back into the tower. Now she watches me even more closely! Recently she planted poisonous bushes at the base of the tower which cause instant death if you touch them. These make it even more difficult for me to escape. Perhaps you do not know this but I can see your Lego Robotics classroom at Gordon East Public School from my window. My heart is pounding with excitement because I see you have built and programmed cranes to move heavy loads. I am not that heavy and I would rather think of myself as a gorgeous Princess rather than a ‘load’ but please can you help me escape again. I thought Cranes would be good for my rescue as they use pulleys, levers, gears, motors and sensors. Last time some of you saved me with catapults and flinging lever arms. Please don’t think me ungrateful but they were quite scary and did mess up my hair. I did enjoy escaping with your designs that stopped to let me in like a Ferris wheel loading passengers. I was quite terrified climbing down the stairs and ladders that some of you kindly made for me…as navigating them in high heels was quite perilous. A lovely safe well controlled crane, however, is perfect.

Here is what you must do? (Design and challenge brief)

Make a model of my tower so that you can practise rescuing me. My tower is cylinder shaped and my window is 20cm from the ground. I do need a floor to stand on. Please only
spend time decorating my tower once you have finished all the other work.
Design and make a comfortable and safe seat that I can fit in and attach this securely to the lifting hook on the crane.
Program your crane to wind the hook and my chair up to my window and stop for 3 seconds so I can get in. Please control this using at least one sensor or keyboard commands as I cannot jump onto a moving seat.
Use your handle on the crane to rotate the crane 180degrees so when I land I will be as far away from the castle as possible and avoid the treacherous poisonous bushes.
Lower me slowly (I get motion sick) onto the ground and control this so the crane stops when I touch down. Please do not smash me into the ground.
Return the crane to its original position so the Witch is not suspicious.
Fast rescuers please add/program: appropriate sounds, backgrounds including relevant messages, a timer to measure how long the rescue takes and motion and tilt sensors.Please practice my rescue.
Practise makes perfect you know. Your rescue attempt may not work the first few times. Think of this as a challenge and ask yourself why and what you can do to make it better. Continue this process of design, make, appraise until you have my perfect rescue.
Most of all never give up….when the going gets tough the tough get going!!!
Super-fast workers

Please write a letter to the witch and pretend to be her beloved old mother who is very sick. Coax the witch to go and visit her so she is out of the way during the rescue. Her mum’s name is Mrs Martha and the witch will need lots of convincing to leave me so your letter must be very persuasive! The witch also likes very neat and well set out letters.

Please decorate my castle and the surrounding fields. It may be beautiful with pretty turrets, flags, flowers and lovely colours or a castle of horrors with thorny bushes growing up the sides and dark colours. Don’t forget the poisonous plants.
Once you are ready carry out my rescue……I can hardly wait.
Please think about and reflect on my rescue……you never know the witch might catch me again and you will have to repeat this exercise. Consider what was good and bad about my rescue? What problems did you have and how did you overcome them? How could you improve on my rescue next time? Hopefully there will not be a next time……..but you never know.

Remember I can see you and I need you to be trying your best at all times.

Thank you so much .

Rapunzel

You will be very pleased to know that our talented students allowed Rapunzel to escape and she is now off with her Prince living happily ever after.

Here are some photos of the students in action.

Here is a video of some students in 4/3N saving Rapunzel.

Here is how some students in 4L carried out the rescue.

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

6/5Y and their Performing Pets

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

Dear Bloggers,

6/5Y had a pet show this week. Please see below for the design brief, photos of the entrants with their creator/owners and some videos of the pets in action (with a bit of help from their humans).

Design Brief

Design and make a pet and program it to perform different tricks. Pets may be animals or other creatures such as monsters or aliens etc. The pets then participate in a Pet Show.

Level 1:

Design and make a pet that can move in a straight line (forwards and backwards) using at least one sensor for control. Construct at least one feature that makes it resemble your chosen pet. Your program must include a loop, 1 sound, 1 display and at least 2 parallel sequence beams. DO NOT USE A SOUND SENSOR.

Level 2:

Design and make a pet that can move in all directions using at least 2 different sensors. (Your robot will need a swivel wheel or equivalent to allow for easy turning). Use lego and craft supplies to add at least 2 features so your robot resembles your chosen creature. Your program must include a loop, 2 sounds, 2 displays, at least 2 parallel sequence beams and a switch. DO NOT USE A SOUND SENSOR.

Level 3:

Design and make a pet that can carry out elaborate actions such as tumbling, begging and spinning etc. which are controlled by three sensors. Your pet has many features so it realistically depicts the animal of your choice. Your program must include a loop, 2 sounds, 2 displays at least 2 parallel sequence beams and multiple switches. The program should be no longer than the computer screen as you will save the various chunks of software as a ‘My Blocks’.

Photos of the pets and their creators

Penny Peacock

Danzi the Dragon

Please control click on the links below to watch the videos

Penny the Peacock

Giraffe Bot 3.0

Danzi the Dragon

Ellie the Elephant

Thanks for calling by

Mrs Garlick

4/3N and 4L Help the Three Bears Fix the ‘Goldilocks Problem’.

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Jennifer Garlick

The Three Bears needed some serious help with Goldilocks as they did not appreciate their porridge being eaten, chairs broken and beds slept in. Classes 4/3N and 4L came to the rescue by designing, making and programming chairs that were guaranteed to keep Goldilocks away or at least teach her a good lesson. Below are photos and videos of their solutions.

Spinning chairs to make her very dizzy