Tag: FLL Jr.

Posted on

FIRST Lego League Jr. Sessions 8 and 9

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. 

These sessions have been the most fun for me. They’re when the grown-ups take a step back and the team digs into the building of their Moon Base. We’ve stretched these sessions out to maximize creativity and allow more time dedicated to experimenting and coding with the motorized portions of the base.

Mapping the layout:

The team broke into two groups and got to building each half of the base.

Session 9 saw several rooms come together.

Greenhouse and Food Storage
Infirmary
Breathing Air Storage, Cleaning, and Delivery System
Cafeteria

The team also had a little fun building, coding, and modifying some motorized components.

Cooling Fan
Serious Coding

Some team members took home the WeDo 2.0 sets to further experiment with the task of bringing some robot-building expertise to our next meeting. I’m really looking forward to seeing what they learn.

God bless,
Jason

Posted on

Sessions 4 and 5 with FIRST Lego League Junior

These sessions focused on specific challenges that will be faced by living on the Moon.

Session 4: Water on the Moon

The team tackled questions of finding ice then melting, transporting, filtering, storing, and using the water. Lots of ideas came forward and the team members were able to build their prototypes.

Crush, melt, scan, and pipeline to personal water storage.
Vehicular transport of melted ice (I LOVE the colors).
Storage, transport, and filtration machines.
High-speed distillation during high-speed transport.

Then the team built and programmed two different machines using the Lego WeDo 2.0 system.

“Sweep”
Modified build to automatically unload cargo from shuttle.

Watching them work together, exchange ideas, take turns, and have fun while bringing their creations to life is the most rewarding part of any session for me.

Session 5: Energy on the Moon

How will we get energy for our Moon Base? How will we store it? Use it?

The team had to work hard on their ideas and came up with some great builds.

Guest Coach Sadie brought her own fuel.

The team then built and programmed “Grab.” With each session the builds become more challenging and the team has to advance their assembling and coding skills.

“Grab”
“Grab” modified into a crunching machine. In lieu of Moon ice, a minifigure is crushed.

This week we’ll be taking on more challenges involving life on the Moon and I look forward to sharing our solutions.

God bless,
Jason

Posted on

Maximum #Unschool Friday

Registered our FLL Jr. team, Delaware International Moon Mission (yes, D.I.M.M.), for our very first FIRST Expo with Hornet City Robotics; off to a homeschooler-organized tour of Wharton Esherick Museum in Malvern, Pennsylvania, this morning; then to family camping to make fire, pitch tents, pick up bugs, find danger, fish, play, hike, get dirty, stay up too late, pick up litter, make friends, cook new things, stack wood, and make more fire.

Education happens everywhere, at all times, if you allow it. Don’t permit society to tell you when, where, nor how your children should learn and when, where, nor how they shouldn’t.

God bless,
Jason