FIRST LEGO League Wellesley

Wellesley’s First- FIRST LEGO League

By: Rama K Ramaswamy

Over winter break I ended up traveling quite a bit- one airport had more stuffed bears than people, however, I was gratified to find that every newspaper I picked up had at-least one article about STE(A)M (science, technology, engineering, arts/ mathematics), encouraged by non-profits such as Project Lead The Way and implemented by districts and parents across the nation. President Obama spoke about building the skills that lead to high-quality, high-wage jobs, during his Jan 21st State Of The Union Address further saying, “right now, countries like Germany focus on graduating their high school students with the equivalent of a technical degree from one of our community colleges, so that they’re ready for a job” and “I’m announcing a new challenge to redesign America’s high schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy.”

Here in Wellesley, after the 2014, town-wide STEM Expo (part of Wellesley Education Foundation), featured over 75 exhibits and its Expo Steering Committee put together a list of STEM offerings, that run throughout the year (what’s next after Expo), a group of parents, some of whom do not know each other, contacted FIRST LEGO League (FLL) (http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/get-involved) to set up teams where in children are given the chance to take the lead, apply what they know, find unique solutions and lead their own learning within a project-based, LEGO building, robotics curriculum. According to FIRST LEGO League, their mission “is to introduce younger students to real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface.”

We don’t have to pull young people away from their smartphones, video games, iPads or other devices and have a conversation with them to understand how important a role technology plays in their lives. One in two adults had their nose buried in some rechargeable gadget, and almost 99% of teens at every airport I shuttled through did the same (I counted). Wellesley’s K-12 public schools curriculum review initiative, supported by Wellesley Education Foundation’s mindful funding, is a step in that direction; as Obama says, to “redesign America’s schools so they better equip graduates for the demands of a high-tech economy.” Parent coaches, encouraging children by partnering with FLL, fits in superbly with Wellesley Public Schools’ evolving K-12 model- designed to create STE(A)M platforms for students that engage in them while they are still forming their attitudes towards these subjects. Between when Expo 2014 showcased their vast array of exhibits, including FLL, and this January 2015, Wellesley has formed 16 parent coached FLL teams (one in 2013 and 15 after the first Expo in 2014).

Among the ten parent coaches who were interviewed about their participation and experience with FLL, about 50% noted the benefits, especially for girls. The Wellesley FLL 2014 coterie came out strong with three all-girls teams! Two parent coaches say that if they were exposed to opportunities, such as FLL as children, they would have certainly retained and applied those skills to their benefit, throughout their adult lives. Parent coaches, Henry Dormitzer and Sheila Olson led the “Brainstormers”, composed of 8 girls of ages ranging from 9 to 13, many of who did not know each other. Dormitzer said that he and Olson marveled about the process, “it was gratifying for us as coaches to see how the girls learned to work together. They formed ad hoc small groups to focus on different needs such as programming, mechanical design, game strategy, and presentation strategy”. These sentiments were a common thread among all the parent coaches. Dormitzer and Olson’s team “The Brainstormers” won the award for “Gracious Professionalism” at the 2014 Northborough qualifier. Dormitzer was very proud of his team saying that they were, “also among the top scoring teams that qualified us to proceed to the state finals at WPI”.

According to Marybeth Martello and Joe Baron, “Team G-Force, as a rookie team had a steep learning curve, but the process of climbing that curve gave the girls a wonderful sense of teamwork and confidence. The team carried out research, developed a solution and presented their ideas to potential users and judges; they found the FLL experience extremely valuable and rewarding.” Marybeth Martello also speaks about the welcoming competition atmosphere, saying, “I was so impressed with the judges, three of whom, sought out our team after the awards ceremony to let them know they scored very high across the board in both the core values and presentation judging rounds. I think this meant more to the girls than their award.” Team G-Force won the “Innovative Solution Award at the 2014 Northborough Qualifier.” Robert and Alexa Plenge decided to lead the “BATES LEGO LADIES”, a group of nine 4th graders when their daughter Molly expressed interest in “science and mechanical things”. Alexa Plenge describes the experience as, “heartwarming and inspiring”. She also remarks that she found it “thrilling” to see the kids become really passionate about the project, “one member of our team had dreams about the research project and visualized a solution in a dream.” The Plenges believe that there is a strong and growing demand for such extra-curricular STEM activities in Wellesley.

“Team RoboRaiders”, with parent coaches, Tyler Battaglia and Karen Pekowitz won the “Presentation Award at the 2014 FLL Melrose Qualifier. Battaglia says, “through this experience, we all learned more about perseverance and commitment. We spoke often about how when you commit to a project, you need to see it through, despite facing frequent challenges throughout the process”. Coaches Kristen Toffer and Peter Bonnette took charge of “The Master Mindstormers”, a group made up of five 4th grade boys from Schofield School. 2014 was their first season with the theme- “FLL World Class Learning Unleashed!” During the season the kids built and programmed an autonomous Lego Mindstorms EV3 robot and built Lego models for the robot to interact with. Toffer also points out that the team really imbibed one of the core FLL values, which was, “What we discover is more important than what we win”.

James Landry and Jason Fiorillo teamed up to form team “Robo Masters” and said that they, “really enjoyed getting the chance to run the robot in front of a big audience”. Ansley Martin and Katey Goehringer led a Junior FLL team called, “HardyWell3” and had similar positive comments about the experience. Traci Battle, discovered FLL in 2013 and coached a team with her friend Mary Wells. Their team, “Boss Bates Robotics” competed in the regional qualifier at Boston University and then moved on to the state competition at WPI a few weeks later. Battle says, “ the team learned so much about robot design, basic programming, and keeping cool under pressure!”

The Wellesley STEM Expo Steering Committee along with WEF would like to send out a mighty message of congratulations and thanks to all the coaches and children who participated in FLL 2014, to share their sheer joy of STEM! They hope to see lots of people in attendance at the next STEM Expo slated for March 28, 2015- replete with new additions including a sports cluster highlighting STEM in action in your favorite sports and input from the new Teen Advisory Committee to increase teen participation and incorporation of the Arts in STEM to form STEAM.

Wellesley STEM Expo could use your help! They are looking for a league commissioner to help match students to teams for FLL 2015. They can be contacted at: Wellesleyfll@gmail.com Follow them or tweet at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/wellesleysciencetechexpo/

https://twitter.com/WellesleySTEM. With all this in mind, the Expo organizing team hopes to encourage individuals and industries alike to make commitments and connections in support of STEM initiatives; after all one can talk about the STEM gap, competition, outsourcing and disappointment or one can do something about it. Education is the gift that keeps on giving.