Northland School Division

Little Buffalo School staff participate in the Lego Robotics workshop!

Lego Robotics is captivating the interests of educators in the Peace Country! Approximately 20 educators from KTC, Northland School Division (NSD), Peace River School Division, Holy Family Catholic Regional Division and Conseil scholaire du NORD-OUEST attended a Lego Robotics workshop at Cadotte Lake School November 17th. The workshop was organized to introduce Lego Robotics to teachers and support staff and discuss how it can be used to teach core subject outcomes. Kee Tas Kee Now Tribal Council (KTC) Technology Specialist and workshop host Paul Neethling says the level of interest is growing.

“So far most schools are using robots as a standalone activity,” said Neethling. “I believe we will eventually see Lego Robotics be used as a tool to help achieve various core outcomes. This is something that will grow rapidly as more teachers get involved.”

During the workshop, teachers and support staff became more confident with building and programming robots. The day concluded with staff attempting to program their robots to complete an obstacle course. Little Buffalo School Principal Crystal Colville says the workshop was very informative and looks forward to weaving Lego Robotics into core subjects.

“It was really neat to see how we can use them [Lego Robotics] all the way from kindergarten up to the high school kids,” said Colville. “We were able to see how Lego Robotics can be integrated into various subjects like math and science. The teachers are excited to provide something new and more hands on for students.”

With more schools on board, Neethling says more workshops are planned with the idea of building capacity for Lego Robotics.

“The second workshop will bring together everyone with the goal of creating activities that support achieving core outcomes,” said Neethling. “We can decide as a group if there is a need to organize further workshops or possibly regular meetings where we share resources and continue to expand ideas and materials as they are developed.”

Neethling also says there is a plan to host the 2^nd Annual KTC-NSD Robotics Tournament. A date and a menu will be announced in early 2016.

Click here to watch Maple the Robot!!!