Miha Miklavc, Osnovna šola Vransko, Tabor
Since we are living in the world of high technology and entering the robotic era our school started with Lego robotics activity three years ago. We wanted to get to know more about the functioning and operating of robots. In the previous school year we applied for the FLL Lego competition, which is organized on a regional and the national level. The competition theme was “Poti smeti”. Seven pupils from 7th to 9th grade took part in the team called roboVRANI. The competition is divided into four parts – a match of the robots, a presentation of the project, a technical interview and team’s values. The match of the robots required the most intensive preparations. Pupils had to construct a Lego robot from the robot set MINDSTORMS Education EV3. This was followed by programming in a MINDSTORMS Education EV3 computer’s environment at a competitive FLL polygon. We visited an expert at the Faculty of Computer Science who helped us to solve some programming problems. In the second part – the presentation of the project pupils had to find an innovative solution of a problem (rubbish and pollution). We got some useful information for our project when we visited the waste consultant and the local waste collection center. Our waste – chewing gum – was recycled and we made a real Lego tyre that was named ŽČguma by the pupils. Pupils were writing a technical book all along in which they presented the course of constructing the robot and the programmes for its autonomous operating. The improvements, modifications, advantages and disadvantages are presented in this book too. Not only technical skills, but also team spirit and cooperation are important on the FLL Lego competition. Therefore pupils spent a lot of time together during the preparations, they got to know each other well and they played sport and social games. In the final preparation stage pupils prepared the complete team image – a poster, T-shirts, caps and other cheerleading props. This way of learning exceeds the boundaries of class and school and opposes the traditional teacher-pupil method. Pupils participate in collaborative learning actively, mentor is primarily an assistant and guide. Our work accessories are not only textbooks and books, but also modern ICT, internet and the target areas’ experts. Lego competition preparations as open learning consist of several stages. The pupils have to analyse the task, recognize the problem and find a solution. The main competences gained during this process are the following: imagination development, spatial visualization ability, story-telling, Math and know-how knowledge, programming, learning about new computer technologies, mutual experiential learning, creativity development, critical thinking and problem solving. Team roboVRANI proved the FLL Lego competition preparations as open learning are amusing.
