The Laker Elementary FIRST Lego League team (4th and 5th-graders) recently received a 2nd-place award for the Innovation Project piece of the competition! The team included Calvin Burl, Boden Licht, Hoyt Licht, Gordon O’Connor, Alex Scharf, Ryder Jurgess, and Amaya Harcrow. David Segroves and Jeremy Kirkham were the coaches.
As part of the competition, teams built and programmed a Lego robot to perform specific timed tasks as part of the competition, and the second part – the Innovation Project – involved a researched presentation. The overall theme for the competition was Submerged, and as part of this theme, teams learned about the different layers of the ocean. For the Innovation Project, teams identified an ocean-related problem, researched it, and devised a solution. Here is what the Laker team – the Penguins – worked on:
The problem:
- Rising ocean temperatures, particularly in the Indian Ocean, threaten a species of fish called the Spiny Chromis.
- The Spiny Chromis is particularly impacted because the females are sensitive to rising temperatures.
- As the females stay with the eggs until maturity, the death of the females often means the death of the offspring.
- This impacts the broader food web of the Indian Ocean and multiple species.
- Students created a prototype, (detailed drawings and Lego model), of a lighthouse that would do three main things:
- First, the lighthouse would have a camera and sensors to monitor the habitat of the fish. If the temperature increased by 1.5C, it would enact it’s next phase.
- In phase two, the lighthouse would pull up hot water from the surrounding environment and cool it within the lighthouse. Then, the cooler water would replace the warmer water to cool the environment.
- Finally, an underwater rover would be dispatched to plant seaweed in the environment to cool and absorb excess C02, which would help control the environment long-term.
- In addition to researching, displaying, and presenting their idea, the students also had to defend their idea.
- The students responded to detailed and challenging questions, (as per David’s attached rubric), and had to respond while thinking on their feet.
- The students also had to show ownership and collaboration with other team members and outside groups.
The team created a prototype (detailed drawings and Lego model) of a lighthouse that would do three main things: monitor the ocean temperatures, use probes for collection and replanting seaweed samples, and reduce the temperature of ocean waters to protect the fish. During the presentation at the competition, the team had to defend their ideas to judges and respond to challenging questions. They had to show ownership and collaboration with other team members and outside groups. The team members included Boden Licht, Hoyt Licht, Gordon O’Connor, Calvin Burl, Ryder Jurgess, Alex Scharf, and Amaya Harcrow. The coaches were Jeremy Kirkham and David Segroves. Congratulations on your awesome accomplishment! Such an innovative group!
