Lego Isn't Just for Kids Anymore: Scaffolding the Start of a Robotics Club

I have to confess that I was never a big Lego kid.  I don't know if I just didn't have the patience or my parents just never thought to get those for holidays, birthdays, etc., but I never gave them much thought.  I'm starting to wish I had, though, because the possibilities are endless!  Through the generosity of several people on Donorschoose.org, I was able to procure six Lego Education sets.  These collections are great.

They come with hundreds of specialized lego pieces, as well as, a motor which adds movement to the mix.  I dove in right away during a planning period and created a windmill.

It's a little difficult to see from my camera phone, but the weight in the back lowers, which powers several gears to spin the windmill blades. Needless to say, I was hooked.

My plan has been to introduce students to robotics by using these kits.  I was originally worried that students would find them to be too "young," but that hasn't been the case.  There has been a lot of interest in the projects.  By far, the most popular has been this crane.

My students also just completed this amazing pendulum clock:

These projects have been a wonderful start to our robotics club.  Currently, students are creating these simple machines using instructions provided in the kits (think IKEA meets Lego).  The next step is to have students design their own machines using the sets.  From there, it's a short jump up to using Lego NXT Mindstorms (, which requires computer programming.  Once they are comfortable with that relatively simple system, we'll take the real plunge and crack open our brand new Vex set.

I can't wait to show off what we make next.

FYI: A student looking over my shoulder has just informed me that you never add an "s" to the end of the word "Lego."  Apparently, I'm going to have to do a push-up every time I say the word "Legos."