MAPSO Makers - A STEM & Robotics Community

08/02/2024

A local family (Sourh Orange/Maplewood) is starting up a FIRST LEGO League robotics club for middle schoolers (including their 13 yo daughter) to compete in the First Lego League challenge. https://www.firstlegoleague.org/

They have space for a few more girls and non-binary rising 6-8th graders to join the team. They also need a couple more parents who are willing to be coaches.

The challenge gets announced August 6 and the team would work together through the fall semester, probably weekly. This is a great chance to develop STEM and teamwork skills in a fun and supportive setting. They’ll get mentorship from MAPSO Makers Robotics.

About the challenge:
https://youtu.be/4JV7x014U0I

If your family is interested, please reach out to [email protected]

We're excited to share a glimpse of the 2024-2025 FIRST LEGO League SUBMERGED season with you! Learn more at https://info.firstinspires.org/first-dive, and s...

07/17/2024

“Efforts to fulfill a STEM talent pipeline cannot begin in college--we need more thoughtfulness and action occurring in K-12”.

Glad to see this article written by the of a company. Too few corporations are focusing on career readiness below high school, let along all the way down to . We need more of this!

https://ow.ly/7uzL50SCkOU

Efforts to fulfill a STEM pipeline cannot begin in college--we need more thoughtfulness and action occurring in K-12.

07/16/2024

Many schools have or , but what catches my interest about this lab is the collaboration between the , the local , and the districts , or .

This is what can look like to solve many challenges within a school district. Bravo!

https://communityimpact.com/dallas-fort-worth/lewisville-coppell/education/2024/06/03/students-learn-science-hands-on-in-homestead-elementarys-steamagination-lab/

Lewisville ISD campus Homestead Elementary created a space called the STEAMagination lab to enrich student learning through hands-on activities.

07/09/2024

"Engaged are more likely to develop their critical thinking skills and have a deeper understanding of the material, which will lead to ." So why do I still see rows of desks, and hear about still lecturing for 45 minutes?

https://ow.ly/IVJW50Stm4P

Having students try podcasting or storytelling with virtual reality is an effective way to increase engagement and reinforce critical content.

07/03/2024

18 months since the explosion I saw in . I think it's been a positive for both , , and parents. I'm interested to see how it will evolved in the next 18 months. Anyone have some opinions they want to share?

https://ow.ly/O0Mu50StlST

The chatbot helped improve grades and narrow gender gaps for students in large lecture classes.

06/28/2024

Day 5 of LEGO Engineering & Creativity Camp - The last day and it all came together. Looking forward to pulling together a reel to show the process. Dig into these pictures. What can you see? Any easter eggs? Thank you to the Maplewood Recreation and Cultural Affairs and Melissa Mancuso for helping make this happen. I hope there are more opportunities, and so do the kids!

06/27/2024

Day 4 LEGO Camp...The town is coming along.

06/27/2024

Day 4 for LEGO Engineering & Creativity Camp - We started with some timed builds using a limited number of random classic . We want campers to build confidence, and when we say "you have two minutes to build a person that is 10 bricks tall, bonus points for eyes", they think and plan less, and just do. A few of them are picutred in this post.

We continued on our town. Builds from the beginning of the week have been incorporated, transportation can be found, and even a few houses have popped up. We're running out of land, if we had another week we'd have to start to build up!!!!

06/27/2024

Day 3 of LEGO camp
The first two days builds on the left? A rising town on the right?
What's gonna happen!?!?!?!?!

06/27/2024

Day 3 for LEGO Engineering & Creativity - Today was the day we started to reveal what the 'big build' would look like. We started by talking about being a city planner, and what that means. We moved on to draw out what an ideal town would look like. We then laid out the road plates each was given and the "AH-HA!" moment happened.

New challenges arose as some of the buildings could only be storefronts due to the narrow build area of road plates. Finally, we brought it all together to take a look and discuss our plans for tomorrow. How do I know the kids were ? They didn't care we missed

And while this was all going on, we introduced the kids to coding LEGO Robots!

06/26/2024

More from LEGO Engineering & Creativity camp day 2 in Maplewood, NJ! Some builds completed, some new ones started. The kids have no idea what is in store the next three days. I need more !

06/26/2024

Day 2 at LEGO Engineering & Creativity camp. It was a challenging day for a few of our . We started with a tower challenge to see which group could be the tallest and sturdiest tower (not in the video). Learning how construct a sturdy build was a mental challenge for many of them, as they all love focusing on the . We learned a lot about !