[Ohiogift] My 2 centsRe: STEM with LEGOS

[John Lydic]

As an engineer (EE) who still works with some science and math in the school as 
well as mentor for and judge science fairs, I think that things like the First 
Lego League can have their place. Something I ran into in college and saw with 
my daughter and her friends when she was still in high school was relevancy.  
When you're studying some mathematics or physics concept that has no apparent 
relevance to everyday life, programs like these can add that relevance and make 
things more interesting, while adding clarity.  In college especially I was 
constantly being told that at some point all of these concepts would converge in 
the future and it would all make sense.  The fact is that it did, and I was in 
college to study engineering, so I and other stayed with it.  For a middle or 
high school student, many of these classes are "required" and seeing no 
relevancy doesn't help with interest or a work ethic in the class.  Being able 
to apply just a modicum of math and physics to real world things can ignite that 
little "aha" light bulb and bring interest where there may have been boredom.

Some of these things are in theory so simple, that I wonder why they aren't 
already included in the curriculum.  Years ago my niece was having problems with 
some Algebra homework and I was asked to help. It was the simple equation of the 
line (mX+b), but the home work assignment simply consisted of lists of numbers 
that were to be translated through the equation, giving an answer.  In an 
appendix there were answers to the odd (or even, don't recall which) problems, 
but as she drilled through these she was confused and obviously bored, seeing no 
reason for this busy work.  I showed her that if we replaced 'm' with 9/5 or 
1.8; X with C; and 'b' with 32, we had the more well known equation of F = 
9/5C+32, the formula for conversion from Celsius to Fahrenheit.  All of a 
sudden, this confusing equation made sense, and looking at the two number lines 
for C and F could even be pictured in the mind, adding one more perspective and 
clarification.

Although none of these program should be used to replace existing STEM 
curriculum, I think that any additions to these programs that can add relevance 
to every day life makes sometimes esoteric subjects more understandable and 
perhaps even more enjoyable, and the difference between boredom and enjoyment 
may be the difference in what curriculum the student selects the following year.

John Lydic


On 9/15/2012 11:27 AM, (Mary Collier) wrote:
> I can see both sides of this issue.  This type of discussion came up years ago 
> on ohiogiftlist regarding these types of events such as Science Olympiad.  I 
> am a retired aerospace engineer, so I have some empathy with the technical and 
> scientific field.
> As I mentioned years ago, the showy competitive stuff in schools can sometimes 
> gloss over or band-aid the basic infrastructure problems of students being 
> challenged or growing in a well thought out, well designed, well 
> implemented day to day, year to year curriculum whether its history, science, 
> math or whatever.
> I think we see that when we overdo varsity sports instead of conducting 
> quality physical education for all students, show choirs and competitive 
> marching band instead of quality music education, Science 
> Olympiad/Legos/science fairs for a quality science education, etc.
> We tend to be a superficial, celebrity, cosmetic, showy culture when it comes 
> to a lot of things, including our education system.  We rot from within. 
>  Boards, administrators, and superintendents overreward and 
> overrecognize employees for the showy events as a public relations spin with 
> the community.  Who gets more pay and recognition - the high school athletics 
> director or the history and science teacher"?  The top athletes or the top 
> science students and historians?  Our college and K-12 education systems have 
> helped build the superficial "look at me" culture".   "Look, Dick, see Jane run".
> A strong, culture values quiet, less noisy, less showy dedication and hard 
> work such as you get from scientific study or writing a quality research 
> paper.  I blame the public and the education leaders as much if not more than 
> teachers for what our education atmosphere has become.  I think serious 
> classroom teachers have felt compelled to out showdog and out compete the 
> other things schools get involved in just to gain a student's, a parent's, a 
> board's, a superintendent's attention for their area and gain resources.
> Mary Collier
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gagel, Shannon <sgagel at aurora-schools.org>
> To: Will Fitzhugh <fitzhugh at tcr.org>
> Cc: ohiogift <ohiogift at lists.service.ohio-state.edu>
> Sent: Sat, Sep 15, 2012 10:18 am
> Subject: Re: [Ohiogift] STEM with LEGOS
>
> Please don't be so short sighted that you can't see a good program because it 
> sounds like a toy.
> Engineering? Check.  Math? Physics? Check in some aspects.  Technology? 
> Absolutely.  First Lego League is an excellent problem solving competition 
> that truly involves kids in programming, research, collaboration and gracious 
> professionalism.  It doesn't cover all scientific topics, but it does truly 
> involve kids in a rich experience of finding a problem related to a topic 
> (this year's theme is senior solutions- looking for ways to help our senior 
> population) and discovering possible solutions, pitfalls, financial aspects, 
> etc.  To do this, students must also learn to be better researchers and to 
> write on the topic to communicate their ideas to judges. Though this program 
> in past years, my students have researched problems in transportation, 
> biomedical engineering, and food contamination.  They have skyped with state 
> officials about keeping strawberries safer and cancer researchers about the 
> feasibility of using magnets and nanobots to produce a cure for cancer.  They 
> have learned about credible resources and the immense amount of junk you can 
> find on the internet.  Oh, and these students were in 5th and 6th grade.  By 
> introducing these topics through a TOY (the robot and components), we hook 
> kids into problem solving in a way that they feel empowered.  So my hat IS off 
> to them.
> I agree that history is not focused on to the same degree.  Should it?  Should 
> we graduate equal numbers of students as history majors as those in the STEM 
> areas?
>
> When you develop a program that hooks 4th-8th grade students into history in 
> the same way, my hat will be off to you.  But please research the program that 
> another professional on this listserv discussed before putting it down.
>
> Shannon Gagel
> Gifted Intervention Specialist
> Aurora City Schools
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Sep 15, 2012, at 9:24 AM, "Will Fitzhugh" <fitzhugh at tcr.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> I didn't realize that the FIRST Lego League
>> could teach Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
>> Technology, Engineering and Mathematics using
>> only LEGOS!
>>
>> If they can adapt that 13-year-old's STEM curriculum
>> to manage all that with LEGOS, my hat is off to them!
>>
>> What until all those East Asian countries learn
>> about our advantage in that!!
>>
>> Amazing! Perhaps they will really tackle history
>> and academic expository writing with LEGOS next?
>>
>> The just-released NAEP results show only 3% of
>> 8th and 12th grade students are proficient in
>> *writing* at present....
>>
>>
>> Will Fitzhugh
>>
>> *
>> "Teach by Example"*
>> Will Fitzhugh [founder]
>> /The Concord Review/ [1987]
>> Ralph Waldo Emerson Prizes [1995]
>> National Writing Board [1998]
>> TCR Institute [2002]
>> 730 Boston Post Road, Suite 24
>> Sudbury, Massachusetts 01776-3371 USA
>> 978-443-0022; 800-331-5007
>> www.tcr.org; fitzhugh at tcr.org
>> Varsity Academics®
>> www.tcr.org/blog
>>
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-- 

John Lydic  johnw at lydic.org  ka8lvz at arrl.net
NRA Life Member, Certified Instructor & Training Counselor
Refuse to be a Victim Instructor
Hunter Education Instructor (Ohio)

If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better
than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not
your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May
your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our
countrymen. - Samuel Adams, 1776

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