LEGO-LOGO NEWS

A presentation will be made at the NECC (National Education Computing Conference) Conference in Baltimore in June which also includes a look at the Lab Schools new technological agenda as well as the LEGO-LOGO use.

There are teachers who would like to investigate the new Duplo science and math sets for classroom use. The new Duplo sets have been quite successful and teachers would like to network to plan more integrated use.

Please know that your continued input, suggestions, project news, and overall interest is extremely valuable.

Share with your colleagues through Donna O'Sullivan, Blaine 310, or contact her using e-mail: dosulli@vertex.ucls.uchicago.edu

Purchasing sets for two years has presented a large collection which makes the building possible for a large group. The movement from the rug to the sand table is very social and cooperative. Because there are more than enough pieces, a rug area can have as many as eight to ten children talking, sharing, figuring out their cooperative or individual constructions. Putting away Duplo Toolo blocks and reintroducing them is a technique which usually brings new people with new enthusiasm.

In a first grade classroom, Duplos are used with the activity cards from Basic Math Set and Lego Dacta Idea Cards and the Dacta Lever Kits. The combination of activity cards and idea cards offers a wide range of Duplo building choices and lends itself to extend any integrated curriculum.

The use of Duplo bricks and activity cards in the beginning of the school year has made the transition to LEGO and lever activity cards much easier.

Another first grade agrees that the Duplos were excellent. The open- ended projects work extremely well. This first grade has found working in groups of 3 or 4 seems to be easier than pairs.

Building cards which accompany the Technic I building kits have proven useful in building merry-go-rounds, drills, wheeled vehicles, rack and pinion steering models, and one-cylinder piston engines in Martha Leaf's second grade. They have integrated LEGO in several ways. During a trek following Class Afloat, a sailboat traveling around the world, the students used pulley knowledge to construct sailboats and masts which would raise and lower the flags that represented the countries visited by Concordia. They built towers which qualified as sturdy and tall and measured them in inches and centimeters, graphing the results. Lever-powered lifts and cranes lifting with pulleys lifted a variety of weighted objects. This information was charted and graphed.

Differences were recognized in the fall when observing LEGO use by boys and girls. Partnerships mixing gender were not always successful. Girls who were not aggressive LEGO builders (alarmingly!) allowed the boys to dominate. When partnerships now include two of these less-assertive girls, the girls are gaining confidence and becoming successful, risk-taking builders! Currently, boy-girl partnerships are found to be much more successful than in the fall.

In Blaine 386, Joyce Carrasco has worked with Technic II building projects and has found that following specific directions as provided for in the building cards works very well. Her students have worked diligently on the element names and glossary names.

The class has worked freely and without restriction once ground rules were established.

Children work together cooperatively with focus and determination. They have been terrifically responsible with the materials, taking inventory after each usage.

Fifth graders devote each Tuesday morning to LEGO. Susan Lesher has followed the teacher's manual for the most part which was an excellent way to plunge into a first year. Kids love the invention problems! They're very creative. Several classes loved the exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. A walk over with groups of parents and students was enjoyable during building and playing!

Susan Lesher assigned the first set of partners mixing boy-girl. This worked great to help foster gender understanding and cooperative learning. Partners are changed every quarter.

LEGOS in sixth grade have been a part of the Wednesday activity period. Throughout the fall quarter, 18 students (about 8 consistently) elected to spend their period building motorized machines. For several weeks, students had fun building and racing cars. They experimented with different ways of transferring the motion of the motor to the wheels for the most power. Several of the students turned out to be gifted builders and persistent problem solvers.

Beginning in January when 2 Macs became available, 2 teams (2 girls and 3 boys) of students began working on robotics. The two girls built a green house and have successfully run a program so that the vent in the greenhouse automatically opens and closes at certain temperatures. The 3 boys are ready to program their dynometer but have not been as successful in working as a team.

These Wednesdays have been relaxing times for the students who are heavily scheduled. It is rewarding teachers to watch students teaching each other.