CONNECTING THE DOTS
NEEDS…COMMUNITY…GIVING
FIRST LEGO League Columbus Tournament thanks to a Grant from the
ROBERT N. BROWN FUND
View Lego League Power Point Here
Seven Bartholomew County elementary schools competed in the FIRST LEGO League Columbus Tournament at the Columbus Learning Center on Saturday, December 12th. The tournament was hosted by the Purdue University College of Technology and the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Earlier in the year each school received a tournament Lego kit thanks to a grant from the
Robert N. Brown Fund.
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Robert N. Brown Jeffrey N. Brown
According to Jeff Brown, Fund Representative this was a great opportunity to connect his Dad’s passions with community needs:
My Dad was an engineer at heart, more specifically, an electrical engineer. Even though he ran a family newspaper business for many years, his first love was invention – finding ways to make things easier and more efficient. Dad helped pioneer several inventions that lead to the practical application of off set printing in small community newspapers. He was highly respected and frequently recognized in the industry for his innovative methods and technical accomplishments.
Through out our growing up years, Dad was always teaching my three sisters and me to be critical thinkers. We would spend hours with him in his work shop playing with electric circuit boards that he built to teach us how to problem solve (if you connect these wires to this contact then the bulb will light when this switch is thrown).
The four of us set up this fund, the Robert N. Brown Fund, to honor his memory by supporting local projects where this kind of critical thinking and problem solving is being taught to our future citizen leadership. Projects like the LEGO League Tournament teach a love for problem solving in a fun contest format. The critical thinking skills learned through the LEGO experience will help the participants through the rest of their lives.
During the previous months students through team work used specialized software to program their robot to complete a variety of tasks. It was a challenging assignment. Robots had to be programmed to maneuver through an obstacle course. There were even items to be collected. At the tournament the teams competed against other teams and were faced with time limits.
The tournament also included a review meeting with engineers where the team discussed design challenges and the adaptations they had to make to the robot to complete the required tasks. The third aspect of the tournament was a group presentation regarding the team’s Smart Moves research project.
Students, coaches, parents as well as tournament organizers agreed that the tournament was a resounding success. St. Bartholomew’s PicoIrish Team were the overall winners and received the Robert N. Brown Award for Excellence. The OGEL team (Lego backwards) from Richards Elementary placed second. Jim Porter, Richards teacher and team coach shared his thoughts about the tournament,
“I am truly thankful I had the opportunity to coach a team for such a wonderful event. It was exciting to watch our team at work! They really pulled together as a team. We went to competition with the thought that this was going to be a "learning experience" for all of us. It truly was that!! We did not expect to place second in the robotics and overall; those were just added bonuses. The experience alone was very rewarding. The FLL staff was very kind and helpful through the whole process. As a first year teacher, I believe I learned more from the experience than the team! I had such a great time!!!! I believe the FLL program can impact so many young lives in such a positive way. It teaches many lifelong learning skills, and that is very important to all learners.
We are looking forward to next year”.
The Robert N. Brown Fund also provided support for the FIRST LEGO League Regional Tournament that was held at Foundation for Youth on November 22nd. Seven local teams competed in the 24 team tournament. Two of the teams, Parkside Power Pirates and Smith Elementary’s Sonic Cyborgs went on to compete in the state tournament at Purdue University in West Lafayette on December 12th.
Science mentors within each elementary school will supervise the use of Lego Kits throughout the school year. Teams will be well practiced when in they compete in the 2010 FIRST LEGO League Tournament.
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