Kids Engineer!

I’ve been wondering how scalable either my ELementary Engineering Curriculum or any other similar program would be in terms of cost per student. So if we assume 24 kids per class, kids working in pairs, teachers sharing the kits by quarters, schools with 1, 2, 3, or 4 classes per grade, and BeeBot at K, Lego WeDo at grades 1 to 4, and Lego NXT at grades 5 and 6, we get the following results.

1 Class Per Grade $37/student $6232
2 Classes Per Grade $23/student $7672
3 Classes Per Grade $25/student $12,664
4 Classes Per Grade $21/student $13,804

Some configurations result in a better cost efficiencies since the kits are more fully utilized. This only includes the cost of the robotics and does not include professional development or associated laptops.

[Note: I revised these figures on 12/21/2011 to more accurately reflect WeDo site license pricing.]

Airplane Adventure
by
Katie and Becca

Hi.  My name is Serena.  I wanted to go to France.  I got in my plane and started it up.

[Narrator] When she got into the sky, a flock of birds flew in her way.  She quickly dodged them.  Then she heard a bump, bump, bump.  It was her plane.

All of a sudden, she was on the ground.  She started to look for fuel.  Then she found some so she got some fuel put in her plane and started it up.  She was in the sky.

Then a big thunderstorm came.  There were buckets of rain and lots of lightning.  A big lightning bolt struck her plane band she fell to the ground and there she was, in France!  She was fine.  I wonder what will happen in her next flight.

Third graders wrote and acted out (with their robots) adventure stories.  Here’s a sample story.  I’ll post a video next of a different team.

The Adventure of Max Toney by CW and AB

Max Toney is ready for the summer.
He’s 20. He wants to ride an airplane. He calls his parents and asks, “Am I allowed to ride an airplane?”
“Yes, of course!”
Then he said, ”Thanks, bye!”
“We love you!”
“Mom, dad, I’m not a baby. You embarrass me!” says Max.
“All right, well, say bye!”
“Thanks, bye!” Max hung up. He took his airplane in his back yard. He already had an airplane from college and took lessons to learn to fly it. He gets in the airplane and rides it. There are 20 airplanes in the air! He hits one, falls, and……. BOOM! goes the airplane! Then he  hits the parachute button and the parachute and the airplane go down slowly in the air. Max lands in the back of his parents’ yard! His parents come running out of the house and say, “ARE YOU OKAY?!”
“Yes, there’s a parachute!” They felt proud of him because he was prepared and he was proud of himself for every reason! His parents were so happy! He felt fine!
The End

Fourth grade burglar alarm that uses 2 sensors

Here was one cool burglar alarm from today.  There is a motion sensor to detect motion at the door.  The kids were challenged to use the tilt sensor too.  This team put some cams in front of the door.  They are connected via an axle and an elaborate structure to a tilt sensor outside the house.  Another team successfully made the motor close the door when a burglar is detected.  Not easy!  Having the Resource Kits available this year made huge difference in what the kids came up with.