First Lego League holds open house
Robots are getting kids excited about science and engineering through a local program at the Siloam Springs Public Library.
Sixteen students, in grades four through eight, have been participating in the Siloam Springs Lego League. The club is organized by Ben Trout, an engineering student at John Brown University, and has been held at the library through a partnership with the Friends of the Library. Other community partners include JBU’s chapter of the Society of Women Engineers and Ryan Engineering.
Siloam Springs’ First Lego League is part of First Lego League, an international program devoted to promoting science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). A total of 16 students, including nine girls and seven boys, in fourth through eighth grade have been participating in the local pilot program. The Siloam Springs club has eight volunteer mentors, many of whom are also JBU students, and four robots.
Students celebrated the completion of their first 10 weeks of the program with an open house on Monday to demonstrate all they have learned.
Kids were excited to show how they used Lego Mindstorms software to program the robots they built with Legos. The robots were designed to complete a series of tasks in an obstacle course on the floor.
Elena Mason said she has always liked technology but this is the first time she has gotten the chance to try robotics.
Mason rattled off a list of things she had learned, including how to use the robot’s color and touch sensors, and how to
O ften, smaller rural cities never get touched by STEM outreach, and kids born for engineering never get the chance to try it. We want to open that door for every kid in and around Siloam Springs and spark their interest in engineering. Ben Trout Siloam Springs Lego League organizer
change the display on its electronic screen.
Cale Fox said her favorite part of robotics is programming. She said she learned that robots don’t always do exactly what you want them too. Participating in the program has helped her learn to find things out on her own, she said.
“(I’ve learned) teamwork,” Fox said. “It’s not always hard if you have teamwork, but if you don’t it gets really hard.”
Trout started the Siloam Springs club as a way to get more girls and more underprivileged children participating in STEM fields.
“Often, smaller rural cities never get touched by STEM outreach, and kids born for engineering never get the chance to try it,” Trout said. “We want to open that door for every kid in and around Siloam Springs and spark their interest in engineering.” Robotics influenced Trout to go into engineering and he wants to open that opportunity to other kids. Trout said he was more interested in political science and writing when he was growing up. He joined a First Tech Challenge, the next level up in robotics, his sophomore year in high school.
“I fell in love with robotics,” he said.
He went on to lead robotics teams in his home state of Colorado before deciding to study engineering at JBU. His career advisor Traci Letellier encouraged him to start a Lego League in Siloam Springs, because it was something he as so passionate about and a way to share his love for engineering.
Sixteen students signed up to participate in the fall, but Trout hopes to grow the local club to include more children.
“We got the pilot up and running, now we’re ready to launch full force next year,” he said.
Robots are expensive, each one costs $350, and the cost to register a team is $225 plus other fees and expenses. In total it costs $750 to register a team, Trout said. Next year he would like to get four new robots and start three additional teams. He is hopeful that community partners will help make those goals possible.
For more information about First Lego League visit www.firstlegoleague.org. For more information about the local robotics program contact Ben Trout at 970-581-2202 or troutb@jbu.edu.