Engineering: Extreme Machines and Ziplines
About our engineering class
What is engineering?
Engineering is the use of science, technology, and physics to design and build machines and structures. Legos are a great way to help introduce children to the concept of engineering and building structures.
About our class
Build hand-triggered contraptions and other LEGO® machines that spin, swing, pivot, roll, lift, and drop. Each machine alone is awesome but put them together and you get incredible chain reactions. With an active imagination as your guide, there are endless possibilities. Then, we will experiment with several different zip lines. In this fun, action-packed class, students working in pairs will learn about engineering concepts such as velocity, projectiles, trajectories, force, motion, and more. It might just be impossible to exhaust the creative potential of LEGO® bricks. Please bring a drink and snack daily.
Continued learning
After the class
In this course, students learned about the basic capabilities of robots, learned how to build simple robots using the Lego NXT kits, and programmed them to overcome simple challenges.
Parent Activity Suggestions:
- Programming a robot requires visualizing how code on a computer will translate into real-life actions. Ask your child about some of the code he/she wrote and how his/her robot responded. Also ask him/her how the robot’s actions changed when the code changed.
- The NXT is a retired product. Additional information about the most recent Lego Mindstorms kit can be found at https://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms