We are supposed to explore how we can help improve the quality of life for seniors by helping them continue to be independent, engaged, and connected in their communities. We will do this by participating in 3 parts - the Robot Game, the Project, and the Core Values. The Robot Game and Project are what teams do, and the Core Values guide teams through the experience. Here is a link if you want to learn more about the Challenge go to http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/2012seniorsolutions.
To start off we received a kit that had the Robot Mat and Missions.
Our next job will be to figure out how to program and build an robot to run the course completing the missions in 2 1/2 minutes. We will get 3 chances to get our best score.
Then as a team we will explore the topic. With the topic we are supposed to
• Find a senior partner
• Identify and learn about a problem faced by seniors
• Create an innovative solution to the problem we identify
• Share our problem and solution with others
The Core Values we will use while doing these two things are:
- 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!
We have already had a lot of fun exploring this topic. Last week we put on an "Empathy Suit". Basically it was a suit that mimicked what it felt like to be a Senior. With a little duck tape, anything is possible.
Here is my son and another kid having a staring contest through reading glasses that mimic how it feels not to be able to see as clearly.
Here is one kid looking at the missions trying to figure out how we will do them.
And here is my son and another kid putting the models on the table. Everyone sorts, everyone sets up, and everyone participates. The last one "everyone participates" is hard for some of our kids to do. We are taking little steps to let them know their contribution is valued.
Other things we have done lately is following the FLL Blog post. From that we learned about Flip the Robot and the adventures he/she? has. Also we read a Doctor Seuss book about getting old. Wait till I tell them about another Doctor who is old. They will have fun with that.
Well, I am off tweaking my table (building portable sides). Now, where did I put that Sonic Screwdriver???