Time flies! It feels like it was only yesterday that we were dragging 12 sets of LEGO® Simple and Powered Machines to Girraween Public School on our first day of workshops with about 24 students. We have grown exponentially since then with our coding, robotics and STEM programs being offered in more than 10 locations around greater Parramatta, Blacktown and the Hills area. Here are a few highlights of 2019.
200 students – 2019 was the year we crossed the magic number of more than 200 students across 10 locations enroled in our after-school programs with us. In term 4, we had 14 sessions over 7 days. This was partly due to the introduction of $100 Creative Kids Voucher to promote more kids to participate in Creative activities such as coding and robotics. We also introduced our Kindy and Year 1 program – Creative Coding/Robotics which is a huge success.
Creative Coding/Robotics (Kindy / Year 1 Program)
Toongabbie Public School – We strengthened our relationship with Toongabbie Public School with a series of engagement including a bespoke coding and robotics incursion for K-6 and we hosting our annual event WeLoveSTEM as well as FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL) Regional in partnership with Macquarie University.
More on FIRST(R) LEGO(R) League…..
Some of our most experienced robotics students worked really hard for over a year to participate in FLL. FLL consists of four parts:
- Innovation Project
- Robot Design
- Core Values
- The Robot Game
Two teams from Girraween Public School and Carlingford Public School participated in the Bossley Park Regional and both teams enjoyed great success. Team Tech Crafters qualified for the FLL National Champions and Team Techno Titans 6 won the Judges award.
FLL Bossley Park Regional Qualifier
FLL National Championships was a great experience, we were one of the top 35 FLL teams on the East Coast. Lots of lessons learned that we will incorporate this year.
FLL National Championships
FLL Regional Toongabbie / Partnership with Macquarie University – If the other activities did not keep us busy late last year, we took on the mammoth task of hosting a regional FLL event in partnership with Macquarie University. Lots of planning, lots of printing, lots of LEGO® building and lots of late nights! There were 18 teams from around Sydney and as far as Orange participating in this event with three teams progressing to the Nationals. We hope to have inspired more local teams to pursue the STEM pathway and participate in such events.
FLL Regional Toongabbie Hosted by AARAS Education in partnership with Macquarie University
Our annual event WeLoveSTEM was the biggest so far with 22 FLL Junior teams from more than 10 schools participate in the Boomtown Build Expo as well as our robotics students participate in a friendly competition. We also had a group of students from China travel all the way to Sydney to participate in our event and compete in a friendly round of FLL City Shaper.
Eight of the FLL Junior teams participated in the FLL Junior expo at the Macquarie University. LEGO® founder’s grandson was a chief guest at the event and encouraged all students along with the MQU Vice-Chancellor.
FLL Junior Expo at Macquarie University
Coding & Electronics Program – Last year we also introduced our Coding and Electronics program using the micro: controller kit Micro:Bit. This program has been a huge success when introduced as a holiday program in 2019. Students were mentored to create their first wearable device that they can code themselves using a range of onboard sensors.
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