This past school year (2016-2017) another teacher and I brought back the FLL robotics program at Nelson Island School. In LKSD we are fortunate that robotics is district funded. We just have not had a team because no one was willing to coach it. So another teacher and I went to our administrator advocating for this program, to support implementation of the shared vision represented in the school and district technology plans and guidelines. This program was open to any student in grades 6-8. We had probably about 10 students help out and 4 students stuck it out until the end. I used digital communication through an app called Remind and announced on VHF radio to make sure students, parents, peers, and the larger community knew when we were practicing. Through this program students, parents, or community members were allowed to come and see what we were doing; however, we mostly attracted high school students who wanted to help out. Lego League is about more than just building and coding a robot. Throughout the program we went over the core values (listed below) helping students to see that it is about more than just building the best robot.
- We are a team.
- We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.
- We know our coaches and mentors don't have all the answers; we learn together.
- We honor the spirit of friendly competition.
- What we discover is more important than what we win.
- We share our experiences with others.
- We display Gracious Professionalism® and Coopertition® in everything we do.
- We have FUN!
In addition to the robot you have to create a project based on the theme. The theme was animals and humans helping each other. Through this we had to connect to experts, research, and come up with our own idea. We connected with a scientist at UAF and students connected with their families to get ideas. To connect with the scientist at UAF we did a Skype interview and the students absolutely loved it! This was a great way to model and facilitate safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and technologies. Below is the idea we came up with.
Goal 7: Educators work as partners with parents, families and the community.
SOE Goals
a. develop a sound, broad-based understanding of learners’ families and the local communities. (K)
b. communicate effectively with parents and community members to and incorporate local ways of knowing into decision making about all levels of schooling.
c. recognize the school as an integral part of the community and value families and community members as partners in promoting learning (D)
ISTE Standards (NETS-C)
1c. Advocate for policies, procedures, programs, and funding strategies to support implementation of the shared vision represented in the school and district technology plans and guidelines
3g. Use digital communication and collaboration tools to communicate locally and globally with students, parents, peers, and the larger community
5b. Model and facilitate safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and technologies
5c. Model and promote diversity, cultural understanding, and global awareness by using digital-age communication and collaboration tools to interact locally and globally with students, peers, parents, and the larger community
SOE Goals
a. develop a sound, broad-based understanding of learners’ families and the local communities. (K)
b. communicate effectively with parents and community members to and incorporate local ways of knowing into decision making about all levels of schooling.
c. recognize the school as an integral part of the community and value families and community members as partners in promoting learning (D)
ISTE Standards (NETS-C)
1c. Advocate for policies, procedures, programs, and funding strategies to support implementation of the shared vision represented in the school and district technology plans and guidelines
3g. Use digital communication and collaboration tools to communicate locally and globally with students, parents, peers, and the larger community
5b. Model and facilitate safe, healthy, legal, and ethical uses of digital information and technologies
5c. Model and promote diversity, cultural understanding, and global awareness by using digital-age communication and collaboration tools to interact locally and globally with students, peers, parents, and the larger community