Mindstorm kits at the Library

Thanks to a state library grant, I was able to offer a special program at my library using a number of Lego Mindstorms kits.  If you are not familiar with this awesome, but expensive toy, each kit comes with one control brick and numerous Lego bricks, pulleys, cogs, wheels, connectors, and sensors.  These kits combine technology, engineering, and coding.    

My current library decided to offer a two-hour introductory class for children who have no experience using the EV3 Mindstorms technology.  I started the class by showing a 4-minute video about the basics of Mindstorms block coding and how to transfer the code from the laptop to the brick.  This video was just long enough to keep the students attention as well as relay some needed information.  

After the video I sat on the floor to show off the kits to the students.  I opened up one kit and showed them what was inside.  I also used this time to remind them about and point out some important features (some, but not all, were covered in the video):

• The alphabetic ports on the brick send information out - motors are connected here.
• The numeric ports on the brick receive information - connect sensors here.
• Point out the port where the laptop gets connected to the brick near the alphabetic ports.
• Show how to turn on and off the brick.
• Demonstrate how to move around on the screen of the brick.
• Remind the students to please rename their project/program. (There were projects and programs on the bricks from previous students. If everyone used the default name, then we would never know which project/program belongs to each student.)

Now it was time to break up into groups.  My library got 5 kits for this program, that means we got 5 bricks and 5 laptops.  I needed to have five groups.  I had the children separate into groups according to what they wanted to do.  This helped me distribute the children more evenly to the 5 bricks.

1. Immediately start programming. A pre-assembled basic RileyRover was handed to the members of this group.  The students could jump in and start programming without needing to build anything.  (I got the idea of using the RileyRover from a librarian at the next town over.  It was an excellent idea.  There are detailed instructions on how to build the rover and well thought out lesson plans for this simple robot.)
2. Build a RileyRover and then program it.  This is for the students who love to follow Lego direction manuals to build something. The students can also decide to add a gripper attachment or cargo delivery attachment.  
3. Make your own creations and then program it to do things.  This was by far the most popular choice. These students had to think extra hard to create vehicles and robots that worked with the motors and could support the hefty weight of the brick.

REFLECTION: I am proud of all of the students who attended these classes.  They worked through some hard coding and structural errors that needed to be overcome.  In some cases, they also needed to work on some diplomacy matters to get the whole group working on their project.  

In retrospect, I needed to do more training before organizing these classes.  The sensors that come with the kits required some advanced coding.  The kids really wanted to use them.  I was totally not prepared for this.  I did not leave myself enough time to watch enough videos and read up on these more advanced parts of the kits.