Resource for Educators Who Use the NXT

The Tufts University Center for Engineering Educational Outreach (CEEO), located in Medford, MA, provides programs and workshops for teachers and youth who use either the NXT or the RCX version of LEGO MINDSTORMS.

The center provides a summer program for youth in 3rd-5th grades, as well as workshops for educators.

Educators who attend CEEO workshops will:

- Learn about the Engineering Design Process
- Learn LEGO building techniques
- Learn about programming with ROBOLAB or NXT-G
- Participate in hands-on activities such as fractions and graphing.
- Explore Gearing and Gear Ratios
- Explore the pedagogy of using hands-on engineering projects
- Investigate how to teach content through engineering based projects
- Discuss and develop classroom management strategies

The center also sponsors an engineering symposium for Educators who use LEGO MINDSTORMS in the classroom. Below is an outline of the next symposium in Massachusetts, which is still accepting registrants. (Click on the graphic for an enlarged view):

The center also co-sponsors conferences on engineering education throughout the US, as well as in Europe and Japan. For a complete listing of upcoming conferences, click here.

Below are two photos of Robert Rasmussen, the director of the center. The second photo shows Mr. Rasmussen in the center’s “Building Room”. (Click on each photo for an enlarged view).

More information about the center and its programs is here.

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 3

The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these Fall and Winter remix projects. Each ROBOTMAK3R was tasked with selecting one LEGO set of their choice and combining it with a MINDSTORMS set. Below are the five amazing models they came up with. Braill3 by Jerry Nicholls Braill3 is an EV3-based LEGO Braille bricks reader. This robot uses its fingertip, made from three touch switches, to read messages written using the LEGO Braille bricks and will speak out what it detected. If it sees a simple maths problem it will attempt to solve it and give the answer as well. To learn more about the process of creating this machine, read Jerry's blog . Braill3 can be viewed here . Set Review: The Braille Bricks set is well thought out. The ratios of the letters is suitable for general use and the addition of some punctuation and arithmetic operators is excellent. There is a card showing what bricks there are and their quantities, but no form of sort...

Celebrating MINDSTORMS with a Remix - Part 2

The ROBOTMAK3RS continued their celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS through these summer and fall remix projects. Each ROBOTMAK3R was tasked with selecting one LEGO set of their choice and combining it with a MINDSTORMS set. Below are the five amazing models they came up with. Remote controlled material handle r by Jozua van Ravenhorst (aka Mr Jo) This remix combines the LEGO Technic Material Handler (42144) with MINDSTORMS EV3 (31313) It uses the power of pneumatic cylinders to move objects around. By using a bluetooth remote control, very precise movements can be made with this model. Touch sensors in the base chassis prevent the turret twisting the cables that go through the turntable to much. The program has several protections to prevent over pressurizing the system for each of the 3 individual pumps and valves that control the 2 booms and claws. The real version of this machine is mostly used in waste material sites to bring the material to machines that sort and...

Celebrating 25 Years of MINDSTORMS

In celebration of the 25th Anniversary of MINDSTORMS, we take a trip through history. Please also visit ROBOTMAK3RS Community every week as we highlight different projects all through 2023 in celebration of the anniversary. Some of the early history is based on the content shared by Coder Shah in our MINDSTORMS EV3 Community Group . Some of the text and links may have been edited from his original posts for consistency and clarity. 1984 - Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen watched a TV program called "Talking Turtle," where MIT professor Seymour Papert demonstrated how children could control robot "turtles" using LOGO, a programming language he developed. 1988 - The collaboration between MIT and LEGO resulted in LEGO TC Logo in 1988, which allowed students to control LEGO models using computer commands. The video shows Papert demonstrating TC Logo. 1990 - LEGO TC Logo was hampered since the robots you built had to be tethered to a personal computer. LEGO and MIT...

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