IST places first twice in FLL tournament

On Saturday, seven international schools competed in the FIRST LEGO League tournament at The British School of Beijing. The Bionic Dragons represented IST. And they did so very well. 

The tournament challenged teams in four different areas. Each team completed a Robot Game in which they built and programmed autonomous robots to complete tasks on a themed playing field. Teams leveraged their problem solving and collaboration skills to build a tower out of marshmallows and toothpicks in the Team Challenge. During Team Spirit, a judge interviewed teams to learn how they approached the programming and engineering challenges as well as teamwork and collaboration. And in the Project, teams presented their solution to the problem of food becoming contaminated or spoiled. They focused on food, because this year's theme is about the challenges of keeping food from getting contaminated or spoiled. It's called 2011 Food Factor. At the end of the day, our Bionic Dragons took home two first place trophies -- for the Robot Game and for the Project.

During the Robot Game our team discovered that persistence and determination pay off. We began to prepare for this tournament back in September. We met every Monday after school. We learned how to build robots and program them. First, we learned how to make them move in straight lines. Then we programmed them to turn. Eventually, we learned to combine our programs to create multi-step tasks for the robots. Through a lot of trial and correction, we learned to build and program robots and work together to solve problems creatively. At the tournament this past weekend, the team played with admirable organization and teamwork. As if that wasn't enough, they had fun and they won! 

 For the Project, the team decided to focus on a food that is common to all of us -- bread. Specifically, they focused on how to prevent mold growth on bread once it is in your house. Their research took them from the farm to the table as they learned about the journey of bread. And to educate elementary children about how to prevent mold from growing on bread, they created a game with Little Big Planet. It's called Mold Attack. This presentation created a lot of buzz. People wanted to know how they could create this game. They said it was "wicked cool." If you are curious as well, be sure to ask KJ about creating games with Little Big Planet. 

 

Next year FIRST LEGO League presents 2012 Senior Solutions. If you are in grades 4-8 and want to join the Bionic Dragons, let me or Mr. Quevedo know. Join us!