Moorestown High School’s FIRST Robotics team, the Combustible Lemons, will host the fourth annual Lego Night at the Upper Elementary School on Thursday, Feb. 28.
Moorestown High School junior Emily Tsai said there is a misconception that Science, Technology, Engineering and Math is all about medicine or building airplanes. The Combustible Lemons want to show it is much more than that with their annual Lego Night event.
“STEM is a culmination of critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, collaboration and cooperation. Lego Night encourages students to utilize all these skills to build a creation that they are proud of,” Tsai said.
On Thursday, Feb. 28, Moorestown High School’s FIRST Robotics team, the Combustible Lemons, will host the fourth annual Lego Night at the Upper Elementary School. This year’s theme is “Shipwrecked,” and students in kindergarten through sixth grade can take part in hands-on STEM activities over the course of the evening.
Lego Night is a largely student-run event, so the Combustible Lemons are responsible for everything from coming up with the theme to making sure everything runs smoothly, Tsai, the Combustible Lemon’s publicity chair, said. The goal of Lego Night is to teach young students about STEM activities and potentially spark an interest in joining a FIRST Lego League team now or a FIRST Robotics team when the students reach high school.
At Lego Night, students will build “Shipwrecked” themed creations, and multiple FIRST Robotics Competition teams, including the Combustible Lemons and Storm Robotics, will be in the gymnasium ready to help young students with their builds or to talk to them about being part of FIRST Robotics.
Students in kindergarten through second grade will participate in a noncompetitive build, where they are tasked to build a Lego creation based on a theme given to their age group. The younger students will also have the opportunity to display their creation in a parade at the end.
Third through sixth graders will have the opportunity to win prizes and awards for their Lego creations. Each grade group will be given a specific category, and the children will have to use their creativity as they tackle the theme.
The Lemons will also have their robot on hand that night, and children and parents will have the opportunity to drive the robot in the same way the team does during competitions. Parents will also have the opportunity to chat with FIRST Lego League teams to learn how they can further their students’ interest in STEM.
“We hope that students and parents will develop an interest in FIRST; FIRST aims to inspire the community to become leaders in STEM,” Tsai said. “By giving students the opportunity to meet FIRST participants, we hope to inspire them to join FIRST programs to further pursue their passions.”
Tsai said the event’s continued success can be attributed to allowing students to be hands-on with their learning, which is different from classroom learning. She said the team makes every effort to make the event as fun and engaging as possible for the kids, and attendees in years past have told them the event made their kids excited about learning and participating in STEM-related activities.
Tsai said the team has found that elementary school curricula focus strongly on developing students’ skills in reading, writing and math, but by raising awareness of STEM to students early on, they’re giving students more time and opportunities to expand their skills and interests.
The funds from Lego night benefit the Combustible Lemons. The teams uses these funds not only to help build their robot for competition, but to expand their community outreach as well as to participate in various community service projects.
Lego Night will take place on Thursday, Feb. 28, in the Upper Elementary School cafeteria and gymnasium from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale for $10 and include admission and a slice of pizza. They can be purchased at tinyurl.com/LegoNight2019. For more information, please email the Combustible Lemons at [email protected].
