LEGO Construction Basics-The RCX

Challenge young learners to cut the clutter with this fun engineering project. As employees of a home and office supply company, young engineers are asked to develop devices that organize everyday items. After participating in a...

Discuss mechanical advantage and how the human body moves/works. Learners focus on bioengineering, working together to build a functioning mechanical arm. Additionally, they analyze an air muscle, discussing its appropriate use in humans. 

Students listen to Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and work collaboratively to create a chair for a small stuffed animal that will allow it to sit upright and withstand a short drop out of Legos. Students write about the engineering...

Scholars build robotic arms that swing back and forth and use them to collect velocity and acceleration data. To analyze the results, pupils compare data to the equations for angular velocity and centripetal acceleration.

Introduce your class to the steps that occur in the manufacturing of parts, the assembly, and the testing of a Mars rover. Pupils learn about fabrication techniques and tolerances in the manufacturing process. 

What better way to introduce the idea of a sequence than with robots! An educational lesson plan explains the classic Fibonacci sequence before pupils build and program a robot to move. Additionally, the lesson plan challenges...

Fe, phi, fo, fum. This activity leads pairs to find the ratio of consecutive terms of the Fibonacci sequence. The pairs find that the Fibonacci sequence can be found in many places. A discussion with the class shows that the ratios found...

Students are introduced to a variety of design elements that promote structural stability including beams, joints and pins. They demonstrate the use of these elements with Lego constructions and compare the stability of several...

Have your class use the engineering design process to program a vacuum robot. Using computer engineering concepts, teams program an automatic floor cleaner to traverse designated patterns. 

Learners connect motors and explain the function of the different ports and wires. They follow specific directions given by the teacher pertaining to the RCX and the program buttons of the motor. They participate in a worksheet/handout...