Fun, excitement, teamwork, science motivates VCS students to participate in Lego Robotics

FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a global program created to get children excited about science and technology. A hands-on program for ages 9 to 14, FLL uses challenges based on real world scientific problems to engage children in research, problem solving, and engineering. Kids compete at Regional level tournaments and then qualifying teams compete at the Oregon State Championships, followed by National & International tournaments.

The FLL Oregon Championship Tournament was held Jan. 16-17, 2010 at Liberty High School in Hillsboro, where over 100 qualified teams competed in the categories of Lego Robotics Design and Performance, Teamwork, Project Research and Presentation.

Valley Catholic students once again demonstrated their aptitude for science, technology, critical thinking and teamwork via their outstanding performance at 2009-10 FLL Championships.

VCS Students and Lego Robotics Awards:

1. Lego Lites Team: Tanvi Yeccaluri (4F), Kirstin Lovely(4F), Rachael Lovely (6C), Rachel Orchard (4P), Preetha Velu (6C), Divya Jeyasingh (4F)
   Awards: Runners Up Championship Award (Regional Tournament) & First Place Young Team Award (Oregon State Championships)
2. Girls Go Green Team: Priyanka Mathur (5W) & Rhea Kukkal (4P)
   Awards: First Place Young Team Award (Regional Tournament) & First Place Young Team Award (Oregon State Championships)
3. Bethany Legions Team: Hiya Banerjee 5W & Rikhia Chaterjee 5W
   Awards: First Place Young Team Award (Regional Tournament) & Third Place Young Team Award (Oregon State Championships)
4. Valley Catholic G4s: Neha Iyer & Naren Gaurav (4F), Divya Amritraj (3S), Brandon Lam, Alex Wan, Aditya Shroff (4P)
   Awards: Junior Team Award (Regional Tournament) & Rookie Team Award (Oregon State Championships)
5. BiB Batteries in Black Team: Sagar Trika 6H
   Awards: Runners Up Championship Award (Regional)

The Kids’ Experience - “Fun” is the most oft used descriptor of their Lego experience by the Valley Catholic students. Lego Robotics makes the challenges of science and engineering fun. “Robot technical design was my one of my favorite parts,” says Priyanka Mathur about her recent experience. “I learned how to program a robot,” says Naren Gaurav. Rikhia Chaterjee agrees that she learned a lot about robot programming concepts by participating in this year’s Lego challenge.

The Lego Robotics project provides kids an opportunity to hone their critical analysis skills “I liked to gather statistical information which helped form our problem, and therefore, our solution,” says Sagar Trika.

A key component of the challenge is the ability to demonstrate strong teamwork and problem solving skills. “My favorite part of the tournament was doing the teamwork challenge,” says Rhea Kukkal, and Neha Iyer chimes in “We learned to work with each other as a team.”

The Coaches’ Perspective - The VCS parent and coach of the Girls Go Green Puneet Kukkal says “Though it was hectic at times with all the sessions over a four-month period, it was tremendously rewarding to see the girls really grow as a team and achieve this honor at the state level.” Amit Kumar co-coach and VCS parent concurs “It is incredibly rewarding to coach kids of this age, this experience ignites their interest in science and technology at the same time developing their research and presentation skills.”

About 2009-10 Challenge and Resources - The 2009-10 FLL challenge was “Smart Move: Transforming Transportation”, wherein the participating teams consider many modes of transportation beyond their daily routine and streamline their options by making smart moves that enables accessing people, places, goods and services in the safest, most efficient way possible.

Parents and students interested in learning more about Lego Robotics see the below links.

• First Lego League
• Oregon Robotics and Outreach Program (ORTOP)
• Lego Challenge

Story submitted by Kirti Devi, Valley Catholic Parent

Posted by Thomas Kohler in Home Page Features, VCES Features