The Life of Mrs. Miles

This video of the Lego Scorpion is the only video that is mine... I see there are some more videos linked - I must have clicked a button somewhere... just disregard the others!




We had this critter running about in our kitchen the other day. Miles has been working part of his school hours with the Gifted Kids in the district, and they are learning all about robots. They've been putting together some of the Lego Mindstorm sets, and they are very fascinating and interesting. These robots can detect color, light, noise and I don't know what all else... except they are amazing. Half of the kids made a regular robot kind of guy, while the others made scorpions. The girls in the class are just as keen as the boys. The robots can be programmed differently, and modified, and the kids have already morphed the stinger into a catapult!



I have to relate a story Miles told me about one of the girls in the class. Bear in mind these girls are between grades 3- 5. They spent one session exploring architecture, and the lesson challenged them to make structures out of straws. The guys - in their guys way of thinking, even at such a young age, just went ahead and built functional and not so exciting looking structures which did what they were supposed to do. The one girl, she was fussing so much that Miles softly said " (name), good grief, this isn't a Barbie Doll House!" The girl buried her face in her hands, shoulders quaking and Miles was thinking "OH my GOODNESS - I've brought her to tears, how insensitive of me!"...



...only to discover she was laughing her little head off - and we all know what its like when a grade 3-5'er gurl gets the giggles! (wink)