For our first day of camp we had a wonderful group of students who persevered through a big day of learning. A majority of the kids have never used or seen the LEGO EV3 Mindstorms kits before. This did not stop us from giving them a nice build challenge on day 1.
We gave them the challenge of bowling. What I love about this challenge is the infinte ways to solve this problem. Students can push, kick, throw, launch, ramp, or do a combo of them all to move the ball down the alley to the pins.
If you want to know more about how we built the lanes and construction guide, then please head here: LEGO EV3 Mindstorms Bowling Challenge and Guide
The other aspect that I love about this challenge is that it allows a perfect entry level point for all learners. For the students who have had class at the middle school or been on the FLL team they can progress with their builds using sensors and code. For those brand new we don’t have to code at all and can focus on how to build with the pieces.
As you will see in the video we had the following ideas come to light
- Simple builds using zero code, motors, or sensors and allowing the laws of physics to work
- Simple builds using Motor Control on the EV3 brick(still no code) or sensors
- Build designs using coding to control motors
- Build design using sensors and more
This allows us to reach each student at their given ability level and experience.
Here is a quick rundown of their builds. Pay attention to how unique each idea is from each student. This is a great reminder to allow students to bring their OWN ideas to life instead of making everyone do the same thing.
In the end, the students learned a great deal about building, keeping it simple, how to code, and how to handle adversity when our ideas don’t work. Sounds like a great day of experiencing life lessons right?
Onwards to day 2 where we will build dragsters!
Until then, enjoy the video of all the build ideas
If you want to access all that we doing, here is our camp website which contains everything for the students and others to use and access!
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