The Oak Park Education Foundation's 7th annual Vex Robotics competition between Julian & Brooks students on January 28 was an amazing display of middle school engineering talent. More than 80 sixth-eight graders worked with teachers, volunteer engineers, and high school mentors after school for months to design, build and program inventive robots that showed their stuff on a playing field at the Julian gym in front of a packed house of cheering fans, friends and family.

This year Julian took back the trophy from Brooks in a 319-95 win. But they're not finished -- five teams from each middle school are still preparing for a regional competition in Batavia on February 11 to compete against area teams, most of them high schoolers.

During the Robotics competition, OPEF also held our first Open House showcasing all our programs: Architecture Adventure, Art Start, Science Alliance, Geared Up, Vex Robotics and BASE Camp. The Julian Commons was full of parents and kids, ages 5-12, trying their hands at challenging, educational and fun activities. Kids operated Vex Robots, build pocket totem sculptures, designed LEGO machines and created innovative buildings of LEGOs, experimented with water, rocks and electricity with EPA scientists, and created Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired window designs.

Thanks to all who participated, supported, attended, or followed us on Twitter, including our event sponsors: Aria Group Architects, Forest Park National Bank, Hoy Landscaping, It's A Sign, and Starship Restaurant & Catering.

Make sure to check out our slideshow of photos from the Vex Competition and Open House from photographers Maria Soderburg and Paul Goyette.



 

All four 2nd grade at Holmes school teamed up with Gretchen Junker from OPEF's Geared Up program and the two Holmes art teachers, Jon Kristofer and Casey Klemp-Florczak, plus many parent volunteers, to conduct an awesome trimester research project.

Students took walking field trips in the rectangle of Chicago Avenue, Lake Street, Harlem Avenue, and Oak Park Avenue. They worked in teams and mapped out the businesses and houses along their route. Each child wrote and presented a description of their building, and their presentations were videotaped and made into a slide show. They also conducted web research on their community.

Finally, students engaged their math skills by learning how to read a footprint and how to build to scale, and constructed their buildings using LEGOs. The neighborhood they built was realistic and impressive! They showed their creations to family and friends on display in the art room on Specials Night in early December.

Make sure you check out our slideshow of photos -- including shots of the LEGO structures and their real-world inspirations -- by Gretchen Junker.



 

Check out our 2-minute videos of Geared Up and Architecture Adventure LEGO projects:

• Students in the 2nd/3rd grade class of Mr. Podlasek and Ms. Pasquinelli at Longfellow used our LEGO bricks to build early Native American communities. The project helped reinforce the concepts they learned about early Native American culture and the environments in which they lived. In addition to the video, make sure you also check out Oak Park photographer David Kindler's photos.
• At Longfellow, the entire 5th grade built windmills as part of their studies of how to generate and store energy. Photos by Gretchen Junker are here.
• Watch Ms. Turi's Holmes 3rd graders build and test principles of simple machines using wheels and axles (video by Erich Kittlaus).
• Ms. Ndaiye's Holmes 3rd graders show off their Geared Up engineering skills and enthusiasm with a great sound track by Atiba Jali.
• At our summer BASE Camp, Mr. Kristofer and his students showed off their motorized machines (and motorized animals!), made predictions about how they'd operate, and explained how they were made.

 

"What do we need wheels for?" Ms. Ndiaye asked her third graders.

"To move things from one place to another, so we can do our work," explained Sam S.

"And what does the axle do?"

"It helps control the wheel," Sam added.

While Ms. Ndiaye was probing her students to recount the history and importance of one of our most basic machines, the kids were building simple wheel-and- axle vehicles with Legos. All third graders in District 97 have this opportunity as part of OPEF's Geared Up program.

Gretchen Junker, OPEF Geared Up coordinator, was helping the kids understand why wheels are so important, how "the wheels underneath the car reduce friction," which relates directly to the science curriculum's focus on "force and motion." Once the students build their machines, they complete a series of experiments and data collection to decide what's working and what's not working with their models.

Nakayla M. said, "It's awesome because we get to build with Legos [in school] and that's not usual!" Her classmate, Semina R. added that they are building on previous concepts each week. This was their third week of Geared Up. "We started with just levers and then we used wheels. Now we have axles and then you get a car!"

Thanks to the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation's Future Philanthropists Program for their generous support of Geared Up.

Check out more photos of Geared Up in Ms. Ndiaye's class by photographer Dana Nitzoy.



 

UPDATE: The photos sets linked below have all been updated with new photos from week four of BASE Camp. Check them out! (7/5/11)

Our Vex Robotics kids (entering 6th-7th grade) custom designed, built and programmed robots to meet a variety of challenges in the form of different games. They built a variety of bots, working in teams, and put on a great show for parents, guardians, siblings and friends at the final competition on June 30!

The Fibonacci Mural group (entering 6th-8th grade) learned and mapped the golden ratio, and then designed and painted a mural under the "L" tracks between North and South Boulevards where Forest Ave. meets Home Ave. On June 13, they took a field trip to get inspiration from many fabulous murals in Humboldt Park. On June 24, they hosted a reception to celebrate their fine work.

Our Architecture Adventurers (students entering 4th-6th grade) designed buildings and made models, with help from professional architects and high school student TAs. They also worked with Google Sketch Up to create 3D virtual models.

The Dissection: Comparative Anatomy and Medical Illustration class (for kids entering 5th-8th grade) spent 2 weeks dissecting specimens from chicken wings to fetal pigs to learn about human anatomy. They spent a day working with Pat Thomas, Board Certified Medical Illustrator and Oak Parker who explained the how and why of her trade and helped students with their illustrations.

Geared Up: Engineering with LEGOs campers (entering 3rd-5th grade) took on new challenges every week -- from structures to wind power, animals to vehicles. They experimented with motors and remote controls, tested their machines and made them better and better.

In Art Start: Arts Adventure, our youngest campers (entering 1st-2nd grade) spent 2 weeks exploring many of the arts, including theater, story, dance, music, and painting.

They presented the fruits of their labor, including an elaborate set, costumes and books made mainly from found materials, to parents and friends on June 24.

In Geared Up/Architecture Adventure: Engineering with LEGOs (for students entering 1st-2nd grade), kids built the White House, Willis Tower, Wrigley Field, Seattle Space Needle, the Grand Canyon and more. They learned about geography, history and architecture while creating very impressive models!

The last week of camp included Art Start: Maps of the Imagination (for kids entering 3rd-5th grade). The kids used painting, drawing, and printmaking to create unique versions of their own mind-boggling mind maps.



 

Ms. Thomas, 3rd-grade teacher at Hatch, rubbed her hands together. She asked her students why her hands scrape against each other and why they get warm and fatigued as she rubbed. Ms. Thomas was demonstrating the concept of friction and the students were soon going to experiment with how to reduce friction to make work easier using . . . LEGOs.

Like all District 97 third graders, these students at Hatch were using LEGOs to build simple machines as part of OPEF's Geared Up program. Constructing everything from simple levers to more complicated fly-wheels, students have had the chance to experiment with how these machines are constructed and why they work. In Ms. Thomas' class on this February afternoon, the kids were building wheels and axles and in the process learning how wheels reduce friction to make work, and life, a lot easier!

The Geared Up program complements the 3rd graders' DeltaScience unit on Force and Motion. As Lena B. explained, they were working with the LEGOs "to learn more about simple machines and how we use them, like when we drive we wouldn't be able to move without them."

Understanding the relevance of what they are learning in science and with Geared Up, Zeevie D. pointed out that they are "fixing the church across the street [from Hatch] and they are using levers to pick things up so they don't have to carry them up."

By experimenting with different size wheels and axles, the students see what works and what doesn't, why our simple machines are built the way they are. Rees V. was working with his partner on their wheel and axle model. He discovered that by "switching out the shorter axle for a longer one it is easier to turn."

In another experiment, Kennedy O. observed that the addition of one small piece to the axle allowed the wheels to run more smoothly because with it the wheels and axle turn together.

The class as a whole discussed their findings near the end of the session. One student noted the relationship that they started the class with, that between friction and the wheels: It would take more energy and more time to move a load without the wheels and axles helping to do the work.

When asked why they were getting to play with LEGOs in school, Rees V. said, "So we can learn how to build harder, better machines when we get older."



 

We're so proud of Mr. Podlasek's and Ms. Pasquinelli's Longfellow 2nd/3rd graders, who won 1st Place in the LEGO Landmark competition at McCormick Place in Chicago on October 31!

This joint project of the Oak Park Education Foundation's Geared Up and Architecture Adventure programs involved designing and building an elaborate model of Frank Lloyd Wright's Home & Studio out of LEGOs. Students researched and toured the Oak Park landmark as well, learning about architecture and architectural history.

Entries were from not just the Chicago area but from across the US - Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, and West Virginia. Our winning entry received over 1,600 votes from LEGO Kidsfest visitors -- 46 more votes than the 2nd place finisher.

Congratulations to the talented and hard-working 43 students and 2 teachers who participated, as well as architects George Beach, Kimberly Zeister & Randy Guillot, and all of the parent volunteers who helped. Thanks also to Jan Kieckhefer, Director of Education for the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust.

The competition was designed to provide students an opportunity to explore and learn about their local, regional, or state history while discovering the value and importance of teamwork, imagination, and creative building.

To see more photos and an article from the Oak Park-River Forest Patch, click here. You can also see Gretchen Junker's photos of the project here.



 

Sydney G. detailed how the distribution of weight around a fulcrum she made out of Legos can make the load seem lighter or heavier. "Lots of things can be used as fulcrums: nail clippers, spoons." She, along with her classmates in Amy Baker's 3rd grade at Beye, has come to understand these force-and-motion concepts through OPEF's Geared Up program. With Geared Up, the students use Legos to get a hands-on experience of some concepts in their 3rd-grade science curriculum.

The students were now moving on to building cars, cars that had a flywheel on top so the students could later measure how far their vehicles can travel. Working in teams of two, one team built the car while the other team built the flywheel component. Robert L. explained how the wheels and a rubber band help the flywheel move. He said, "We're kind of learning science, but it's fun." Ben W. added, "The Legos help you understand it better."

Once the students built their cars, it was time to test their mettle. This involved 4 trials--changing the variables of weight and wheel size in each trial. The students really had to focus on distance and not speed and to closely watch how many rotations the flywheel made. One rotation equals one meter of travel. First the students had to predict how far the car would go in each trial and then record their actual findings--applying scientific method to their exploration.

After sending her team's car down the ramp, Nicole J. observed that "with a weight on it, it goes farther because I think the weight is kind of pushing it." Later, when the class was discussing their findings with facilitator and Geared Up Coordinator Gretchen Junker, Josh C. pointed out that it's gravity that makes the car go down and "weight adds to the gravity."

One team, Kalem H. and Beau G., tried putting the big and small wheels side-by-side and discovered that the distribution of the weight caused the car to turn instead of making it go farther. In the end, the class determined that the combination of a weight, big wheels in back, and small wheels in front was the most effective design because the larger wheels reduce friction and the weight increases the gravitational pull. Ms. Baker compared it to the Olympic bobsled racers.

Ms. Baker explained later that "the Legos make learning fun for the kids. They think they are playing in school!" In terms of the Lego connection to the science curriculum, she added, "It is also beneficial to have kids get the lesson one more time and really secure the concept in their heads."

Mrs. Baker's class will continue to work on Geared Up projects throughout October. Click here to see a slideshow from Ms. Baker's class.



 

Thank you to Oak Park & River Forest High School's Tau Gamma service club, who came together last Sunday, September 19, to clean up and sort out the thousands of Legos used in OPEF's Geared Up program! All District 97 3rd graders experience Geared Up -- which introduces students to concepts of force and motion using Legos. Students usually work in pairs and have a full kit of Lego building materials -- wheels, weights, supports, axles, etc. By the end of the school year, after having seen action in 8 schools and more than 20 classrooms, the kits are in some disarray. The high schoolers donated their time to get the kits ready for 2010-11 third graders.

More pictures here, courtesy Ginger Yarrow.



 

It's been a fun and productive camp experience for more than 100 kids, ages 7-12, who attended OPEF's first BASE Camp this June. Check out our pictures of:

• Architecture Adventure students constructing a miniature city and exploring architectural landmarks from around the world. They worked with professional architects and their tools, creating a mind-blowing city using 3D models, and learning Google Sketch Up design.
• Vex Robotics students designing, building and programming remote-controlled robots from scratch, with help from their teachers and some high school mentors. They held 2 scrimmages to compete and test the various skills of the bots they created.
• Geared Up students designing and building machines that work (like a cart, a clock, a windmill and a robotic dog) using Lego Motorized Mechanisms kits. They faced numerous design challenges, tested their models and improved them as they went. The students also designed and created bridges to see how much weight they could support.

Congrats to all our impressive BASE Campers! It was great to work with you.

Photos are by Oak Park photographer Paul Goyette.

UPDATE: You can see more pictures from BASE Camp's Architecture Adventure program here. Thanks to Oak Park Photographer David Kindler.

 

Ms. Hoehne's class experiences the Oak Park Education Foundation's newest program, Geared Up.  Geared Up brings engineering, physical science, math and technology challenges to elementary school students using Lego motorized Mechanisms.  Click here to see photos of this project from Oak Park photographer David Kindler.

 

Ms. Wright's 3rd graders at Whittier are experimenting with simple machines as part of OPEF's newest program, Geared Up. Students used Legos to build freewheelers, then tested and modified the cars to achieve maximum speed and distance.

Click on the photo above to see a slideshow from Whittier by Oak Park photographer Paul Goyette.



 

Ms. Parra's Lincoln School 3rd graders take part in OPEF's new hands-on pilot program, Geared Up. Here they experiment with principles of force Geared Up. Here they experiment with principles of force, motion, friction and more while building and testing a street sweeper, flywheeler and fishing rod. Click here or on the photo above to see pictures from Lincoln by Jessica Parra and Rachael Snodgrass.



 

Our newest program, Geared Up, brings engineering, physical science, math and technology challenges to 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. Using Lego Motorized Mechanisms sets, students will work in teams of 2 to build models that demonstrate concepts such as simple machines, moving energy, magnetism and more.

Geared Up is a pilot program during the school day in 2008-2009. This means that 6 teachers will launch the program in their classrooms, to help us determine the ideal place for Geared Up in the District 97 curriculum for all schools in 2009-2010. We are in the process of determining which classes will participate this year.

We will soon begin recruiting classroom volunteers to help students with this exciting, hands-on new program! Click here or on the photo above to see a preview of Geared Up.