Robotics Revs Up for the New School Year
The bell for the first day of school hasn’t quite rung yet, but Principia’s robotics program is all revved up and ready to forge ahead!
With robotics on the course schedules for both Upper and Middle School, there will be plenty of opportunities for students to engage in this ever-expanding area of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning. First on the calendar is the high school-level VEX competition on October 24 in Bonne Terre, Missouri. Using robots built from Tetrix parts, our Upper School team will play in the Nothing but Net competition. All members of the Principia community are invited to Bonne Terre to cheer our students on. E-mail for details.
Just as exciting this year, Principia’s youngest students—from kindergarten through third grade—will have an opportunity to test their budding engineering talents! For the first time, a Principia team—Robocats—plans to take part in Junior FIRST LEGO League (FLL) programs. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a nonprofit established by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen to promote technology education.
The Robocats will join more than 34,000 children from 18 countries in becoming Waste Wise—the theme of the fall 2015 Junior FLL competition. Students will learn about reducing, reusing, recycling, and re-purposing trash. They’ll also gain experience working with simple machines as they build a model out of LEGO bricks and other elements, with a motorized component. In addition, they will be required to present information through a “Show Me” poster
Our Robopaws team—made up of students from grades 4 through 8—will participate in the annual FLL Challenge for the third time. For this Trash Trek challenge, our students will build, test, and program an autonomous robot using LEGO Mindstorms technology to successfully undertake a set of missions. As part of their project work, they will also research and propose solutions for a real-world trash problem.
In addition, our Upper School Mecha Panthera and Optimus Prin teams will enter the FIRST Tech Challenge in early December and the FIRST Robotics Competition in the spring. Though relatively new to the competitive robotics arena, Principia Upper School teams are off to an exceptionally strong start, having won several awards in their first two years:
- The Rookie All-Star Award at the regional FIRST Robotics Competition in March 2014
- An award for engineering process at VEX in December 2014
- Fourth place (out of 43 teams) at the FIRST regionals in March 2015
- First Place (working in a three-team alliance) at the FIRST State competition in May 2015
Math and science savvy isn’t all it takes to succeed in these events, however. All FIRST contests promote these key values, which align well with Principia’s approach to competition:
- Teamwork
- The importance of learning and discovery over winning
- Gracious Professionalism®and Coopertition®—which include kindness, respect, and a willingness to learn, teach, be mentored, manage, and be managed
For Principia School Principal Travis Brantingham, this combination of hands-on STEM learning and a high bar for character is a win-win. FIRST robotics programs are, as he puts it, “an outstanding vehicle for our students to test their teamwork and problem-solving skills. They are learning leadership by figuring out how to partner with other robotics teams and with peers and teachers.”