Our summer camps continue as we engaged students with our FLL Camp the previous week! FLL stands for First Lego League, a program under FIRST that exposes kids to the world of STEM using LEGOs. By the end of this camp, kids were well equipped with knowledge of core values, programming, building, and problem solving.
We started FLL Camp by teaching the campers about FIRST's core values through discussions and team-building activities. Once the kids proved they had a grasp of these important values, we showed them an informative video about the "Into Orbit" game and introduced them to Lego EV3 robots. As the day came to a close, they got a hands-on experience with the robots and began learning how to block
code.
On the second day, we picked up right where we left off with block coding. The kids learned about how their coding could use information from various sensors like the gyro and color sensors. Student mentors introduced them to pseudocode and MyBlocks to simplify coding tasks. They used their new knowledge to tackle challenges like line following and turning. By the end of the day, the kids were masters at calibrating sensors and using coding knowledge to solve problems!
The third day, excitement grew as we revealed the rules and missions of the FLL game. We explained passive and active mechanisms and had a brainstorming session for robot designs. The kids came up with creative strategies and approaches for the challenges, ready to use what they had learned and apply it.
Day four was all about building and programming. After covering additional rules and terminology, the kids broke off into their teams to begin building, programming, and testing their robots. Most of the day was spent constructing attachments and refining robot designs, and the kids showed off their knowledge as they overcame challenges one by one. It was hard, but they proved they were up for it. By the end of the day, the kids were nearly prepared for Friday’s final competition!
The morning of the last day was dedicated to adding final touches and fine-tuning robot designs and programs. After lunch, the competition began! Teams competed, testing their robots as they ran their code and attempted to score as many points as
their robot was designed to. The atmosphere was thrilling, and the kids showcased how much they had learned. As the day came to an end after an exciting competition, we had a pizza party and an award ceremony to celebrate everyone's performance and wrap up the camp.
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