Building Skills By Building Robots

Last weekend my daughters participated in the First Lego League Robotic competition.

They got involved building robots several years ago, not through the schools but through a program at our local library.  At the time Ava was seven and in second grade while Kayla was 9 and in fourth grade.

Working in pairs with kids of different ages they learned how to use Lego Mindstorm to build robots they could program to complete tasks.  My daughters loved coming up with interesting and sometimes crazy engineering that enabled their robots to push levers, shoot hoops and open doors on a tabletop course.  They used programming language to tell the robots what to do, working together to refine their programs until the robots did exactly what they had intended.

I can't tell you what a rush of excitement they got from building and programming robots, or how happy it made me as a parent to know they were embracing critical skills they would need to be 21st century creators and thought leaders all while having fun, it was a triple threat!

This year they were ready to enter the First Lego League Robotics Competition.  There were also two teams forming at our Middle School, one for six graders and another for seventh.  After exploring both the library and middle school options my older daughter decided, along with two other six graders, one boy and one girl, to join the library team.  When I asked her why, she said the school team was all boys and she wouldn't get a chance to have her ideas heard.  That really resonated with me.

56% of girls who go into programming leave their jobs after 10 years.

I found her answer intriguing. Statistics have shown that it's not the capacity to do the work but the environment in which the work is being done that makes female programmers abandon their posts.  This is important because girls as well as boys need to be encouraged to take on positions that will shape the future use of technology, to create inventions we can't even imagine yet.  Think of all the ideas that would be lost, talent that would be wasted, if girls weren't given an equal opportunity and encouraged to enter and stay in these fields.

The other thing that intrigued me about the team was the mixed age group.

Unlike the school, the library team included kids ages 9-14.  This brought an interesting perspective to the group as the children were focused on different learning modules and different types of play.  It was a ten year old who came up with the world problem solution the team was judged on and showed the older kids how to use Scratch to create a learning game to make student's better programmers. He also showed them how to build a controller out of tacks, cardboard and wire.  It was pretty amazing.

So what's the point?  

The point is that as educators you can't be boxed in by age, grade or gender when exploring ways to help students acquire critical collaborative skills in key technological areas like programming and robotics.  And the younger you start children learning these skills, the better.  If instruction time is limited create a club, if resources are the problem enlist the help of your local library, boy and girl scouts or look for local donors.   Parents can form homeschooling groups to help their children gain the critical skills they need while having fun.  All you need is a few building kits, a computer, imagination and some commitment. 

My daughter's team went on to win an award for the best mechanical design of a robot by using sensors in its construction.  They placed in the upper tier over all and were judged on their design, robot's performance, world problem solution, their teamwork and attitude.  Going to the competition, seeing what other kids had made and working together made them eager for more. 

The skills they have gained will stay with them and make them more apt to lead and get their thoughts heard when they leave school. It sparked their imagination, inspired them to discover new ideas and acquire new skills by working on solving real life problems with other children.   They made friends and had fun.  Isn't that what learning is really all about anyway?

Laura Hill is an author and speaker who works with children and adults to get 21-century skills into their hands and great ideas into the world.  As president of her local library board she has been instrumental in helping libraries and school find niches that bring maker space learning environments to their communities.

True Grit

Grit

/grit/ noun courage and resolve, strength of character

Grit is a term I've heard used often and loudly in scholastic arenas.  The word itself means to have strength of character, resolve, a certain stick-to-itiveness embodied by a clenched jaw and John Wayne-esque stance.  In education arenas I have heard it used to describe desired student behavior and as a battle cry for modeling that behavior, teach students to have grit and they will succeed!  I thought I knew grit, what it meant and how to use it, but then something happened that changed my mind.

Me after my second surgery

In fact, two things happened that gave me pause for some deep reflective thought.  One was very personal, in April I was diagnosed with skin cancer, which had formed on my nose and back.  This was a very treatable cancer in which the affected area was surgically removed.  I had my first two operations in April, the last three in June and July, I won't say it wasn't painful physically and emotionally (nobody wants a surgeon cutting away at their snout) but nothing compared to chemo or radiation treatment.  At the same time my father fell and was hospitalized for months requiring surgery for a fractured hip and rehab, two friends died suddenly, one of heart failure and the other as the result of a fall down a flight of stairs and my insurance dropped me in the middle of surgery for not checking a box on the renewal form.  I was an emotional and physical mess.  If there was ever a time for grit, this was it.

The other thing that happened was a student I was working with was removed from her family.  I have been working almost exclusively with kids at risk for the past year and had gotten to know this child as an extremely bright student with a lot of potential.  I had watched this student struggle to continue excelling as home life deteriorated complicated by drugs and lack of authorative presence.

Ava and Kayla raising funds to
buy supplies for Save-A-Pet

We went down our paths simultaneously, me choosing to channel my powerful emotions fueled by pain and anxiety into creating and giving, helping my daughters get involved with Kindness Heroes a program in beta test sponsored by Misha Collins and his Random Acts Of Kindness program; my student struggling to make sense of what was happening.  I was able to channel my frustrations into a new gallery show titled the Celebrity Series, I rekindled my love of rock drumming and hiked wooded climbs everyday to get strong again.  While I poured my energy into wellness and art I noticed that many colleagues I relied on took my illness as an opportunity to advance themselves and as some doors closed I found a whole new set flung wide open with support pouring in from the artistic community, teachers and giving institutions.  My student also found an outlet on stage building self-esteem and like me, finding support from unusual sources.  We both found out what true grit meant.  It can't be taught, it is not a label, it is an experience in which you pull yourself up out of hole, that experience strengthens you and makes you grow as a person into someone who is more empathetic, determined, confident in what you can achieve and give, knowing you will succeed if your willing to go the mile.  

So what’s the point?

As you start your school year you will find yourself in challenging situations-motivating students, managing behavior, searching for funding, rethinking classroom set up, administrative differences, difficult colleagues, children at risk, cultural barriers in the community.  I would challenge you this year to not get frustrated but instead to look for the silver linings.  Use your grit to come up with creative solutions to your problems and model this for your students.  Who knows, that kid that can't sit still could be the next robotics genius, that administrator who drives you crazy could come up with funding for your pet tech project.  

I was once told the story of a teacher whose very studious class was faced with a noisy ruckus outside their classroom door.  The teacher asked her students for suggestions to quiet the noise.  Half said to yell at the noisy students while the other half suggested calling an administrator to quiet them down.  The teacher simply walked over and closed the classroom door.

We can only control our own behavior.

Use your grit this year to model by leading who knows what you will accomplish or what you will learn.

-Laura

Kayla and Ava Kindness Heroes

This summer my daughters turned me onto to an amazing charity called Random Acts of Kindness which was founded by TV actor Misha Collins.  Being that my daughters are huge fans of Supernatural and active in the Fandom I wrote asking if there was a way for kids to get involved in their charitable acts and guess what?  Random Acts was just launching a child friendly giving org. called Kindness Heroes.  My daughters are doing a Beta test with Kindness Heroes right now and so far it has been a great experience.  I encourage you to follow Kayla and Ava on their journey and to get your students and families involved in Kindness Heroes when they officially launch (target date) this fall.  Not only will you be doing something great for the community with the students you serve, you will do something amazing for yourself!  There is no greater thing you can do than give of yourself without expecting return.  As my daughters like to say don't sit in the background, get involved!

Kindness Heroes by Kayla and Ava

We have always been a family that volunteers, mostly my Mom but she pushes us to get involved and think of our own projects too.  What we've learned is that everything is accessible and you can really do some humongous things just by taking the first step-like rolling a snowball to make a snowman, good ideas keep getting bigger and bigger.  Below are some of the things we have done with Kindness Heroes, all the ideas we thought up and did in our own time.

1.  We do a lot of hiking in the woods and last week we got caught in a torrential downpour.  Mud filled the paths and we were soaked by the time we got back to our car, so were a lot of other people.  As we were leaving we saw a girl who was stuck, her car was really far away so we picked her up and drove her to town-which was flooded too!  It felt good to give her a lift.

2. Save-A-Pet is always looking for supplies so we asked neighbors to donate paper towels, glass cleaner and pet food then dropped it off at our local shelter-they were very happy we stopped by!

3. The beach by our house is always full of litter which is really annoying since there are garbage cans all around.  We filled a 30 gallon bag in about ten minutes #CarryOutYourTrash

4. My uncle was complaining that he didn't have any good music to listen to so we made him a CD of songs we thought he would like and sent it to him in the mail.  It will make him smile.

5.  We were hiking again and on the way to the woods we saw a lady collapse from the heat.  Mom stopped the car and we gave her water and drove her home and told her neighbor.  Mom saw her the other day walking by the park so we are glad to know that she is OK.

6. A big bunch of trees were cut down by our house so we planted some milkweed there.  Butterflies need milkweed and they are global pollinators so we hope this helps.  

7. We got the idea to start collecting bottles to return, this way we know they are being recycled plus we donated the money at the church, which was fun.

8.  My grandpa had a bad accident and was in the hospital for a couple of months.  We got the idea to make a big banner to surprise him when he came home-he really loved it!.

9.  This year we volunteered two weeks of our summer vacation to help kids at Destination Science camp. It was pretty cool and there was a group we taught to draw, which is something both Kayla and I are really good at.

10.  My mother was growing citronella bushes and was making new ones from the clippings.  Citronella is great for chasing mosquitos away so we gave some bushes away and are growing more to donate to other people.