You've got fourth-graders

"You've got fourth-graders that are truly doing the engineering design process in fourth grade," Fredriks said. "They're researching a problem, devising a unique solution, testing it, prototyping it, revising their solution — it's what engineers do."A core principle of the FIRST LEGO League is that the competitors should do all the work, Fredriks said. The computer programs used allow the competitors to assign "blocks" of commands that can be as simple as moving backward and as complicated as using echolocation to determine how far away an object is, said Orcutt Academy senior Hayden Downum."I can say this with complete certainty: This program changes lives," Fredriks said. "I had a student that, his freshman year, he was getting like a D average and he just wasn't into school. There was nothing that got him excited about it. He started his sophomore year doing the same thing.

We started our team that year, we invited him on, he got excited about it, he ended up being our captain. Last year, he pulled his grade up to a 3.5 and now he's at Hancock studying machinery and engineering. He's going to be going to Cal Poly for mechanical engineering."The robot competition, in which teams' machines complete specific objectives that simulate relief efforts after a natural disaster, was one of three categories judged at the tournament.The other two involve a poster presentation where students find a real-world engineering problem and propose a solution to it and an overall assessment of the group's teamwork and core values.

Lorena Figueroa, whose 10-year-old daughter is on the St. Mary of the Assumption School team, said the environment at the group's weekly meetings has taught her child how to collaborate."Everybody is challenged to do something," Figueroa said. "So think that's one of the main lessons, how to work in a group and learn different skills from others."his robot is my third robot purchase in my robot cleaning swarm - I have a Scooba 230 6" floor washing robot cleaning the bathroom and bedroom floors, and my Roomba vacuuming robot takes on the whole house every day.