Bay Point Elementary Magnet School: LEGO Field Trip

By Ron Woolums, Science Specialist

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Bay Point Elementary Magnet School: LEGO Field Trip

By Ron Woolums, Science Specialist

The week of January 26th, Bay Point Elementary Magnet School had a wonderful in-school LEGO field trip in our school’s science lab for all of our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. The students constructed Indy style race cars with the motorized LEGOS and then tested them to see which car was fastest. Miss. Baras, The LEGO presenter, then discussed the effect of weight on the car’s speed and the gear ratio with the students. The students were allowed time to modify their cars and to test drive them. After that, races were held to see whose car was the fastest.
The students were engaged in the science process skills of constructing models, predicting possible outcomes, making inferences, testing the model, modifying the model and retesting, and stating their results, and drawing conclusions. All of these things are part of our Pinellas County Essential Learnings in science and support our magnet focus: math, science, Spanish, and technology. This workshop was a great opportunity to put all of these skills together and to learn how to solve problems on their own. The students loved the experience and did not want to leave to go back to their class. Many of them asked where they could buy the LEGO sets.

The week of January 26th, Bay Point Elementary Magnet School had a wonderful in-school LEGO field trip in our school’s science lab for all of our 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. The students constructed Indy style race cars with the motorized LEGOS and then tested them to see which car was fastest. Miss. Baras, The LEGO presenter, then discussed the effect of weight on the car’s speed and the gear ratio with the students. The students were allowed time to modify their cars and to test drive them. After that, races were held to see whose car was the fastest.

The students were engaged in the science process skills of constructing models, predicting possible outcomes, making inferences, testing the model, modifying the model and retesting, and stating their results, and drawing conclusions. All of these things are part of our Pinellas County Essential Learnings in science and support our magnet focus: math, science, Spanish, and technology. This workshop was a great opportunity to put all of these skills together and to learn how to solve problems on their own. The students loved the experience and did not want to leave to go back to their class. Many of them asked where they could buy the LEGO sets.