The FIRST LEGO League Class pack program is wrapping up its first year in the classroom at St. Luke Catholic Elementary School.
Students in the grade 6/7 class, grade 4 and kindergarten took part.
The Nipissing-Parry Sound Catholic District School Board (NPSC) hosted a fair Wednesday at the school with innovation projects on display and robots competing in a challenge.
Peter Anello, Technology-Enabled Learning Facilitator for K-12, says what was once an afterschool program is now in the classroom and it’s promoting project-based learning.
“First LEGO League does just that, it integrates all of the new curriculum changes with coding, math and science,” he says. “But, engagement is through the roof.”
Anello says the students worked together, innovated and came up with solutions to real-world problems.
He adds their reaction, and the work they put in, to get their robots to do what they’re supposed to do is rewarding.
“They know the expectation and they fine-tune,” he says. “Sometimes it’s environmental, it could be a speck of dirt on the mat, or it could be anything so they just keep trying. When it does happen they’re cheering like someone scored a goal.”
The hope is to have at least four or five classrooms involved in the program next year.
Wednesday’s fair also included demonstrations from Near North Robotics Team 1305.
