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 .jpg)  Our Lil Princess: Amabel Loh Birthday: 21 August 2006 Place of Birth: Thomson Medical Centre, Singapore Delivery Method: Natural Delivery without Epidural Borned in Gestation age: 38weeks 3days Weight at Birth: 3.005kg Length at Birth: 47cm Breastfeed: 14 months  Our 2nd Lil Princess: Aisleyne Loh Birthday: 15 August 2008 Place of Birth: Thomson Medical Centre, Singapore Delivery Method: Natural Delivery without Epidural Borned in Gestation age: 39weeks 2days Weight at Birth: 3.010kg Length at Birth: 48cm Breastfeed: 3 years+  |
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title: Lego Robotics Class @ Thinking Tap
date: Tuesday, December 30, 2014 time : 5:47 PM
All
children love Lego isn’t it?!
If
you walk into the LEGO shops, there are several product lines within LEGO. The popular series include
Legends of Chima, City, Star Wars, Lego Technic etc, these are also the
familiar ones for me, as I often bought LEGO as a present for my friends’ kids.
There is even some of the LEGO models come with the LEGOPower Functions elements (Battery
Box, Remote Control and Motors) to allow the models to come to life.
Interesting
right?!
Even
adults can get crazy over it.
My
girls too, enjoy playing their friends' LEGO tremendously as they get to build
a set / model and get so please with themselves when they were done. But well,
I never bought a set for them to play with due to the price and I do feel that
it was a waste of money as I not sure whether they will constantly play with
their sets or just leave it there after to collect dust. I do change my mind
after their Lego Robotics lesson @ Thinking Tap, cause LEGO is
not just about follow the instruction and assembly the bricks, it is beyond
that.
So,
why Lego Robotics?
Robotics creates a constant opportunity to solve
problems. The use of Lego bricks with the combination of engineering and
software, problems and solutions creates a dynamic environment that helps
children develop problem-solving skills which involve math, physics,
engineering and logic as they work toward tangible goals.
Through
building these Lego Robotic models, I can see that kids will be exposed to mechanic concepts
and problem solving skill beyond their level. Thanks to ThinkingTap
for the opportunity to let my girls to explore and get hand-on experience with
Robotics, programming and constructive problem solving !
 
So
we are here today, heading off for their Lego Robotics class @ Yishun
In
their Robotic lesson, they not only work/play with the LEGO, they learn very
useful skills such as computer programming (basic one first for a beginner) and
was encouraged to think, analyze situations and it also
offers them a unique intellectual experience to identify problems, look for
solutions (problem solving).
So
that’s why I wanna share more info and spread the awareness of Robotics with
parents here.
@thinkingtap
Robotic class, the class may
be of different ages and levels- like for Aisleyne, she will be in Kinder
(Level 1) and Foundation (level 2) for Amabel, but they keep the class
size really small, in order to provide specialized attention to all their
students. They use different Lego Robotics Sets for different age groups
too.
Both
my girls were then each given an individual set of material (robot). Each
session has its learning objectives and students will assemble a different type
of robot in each session. The student will build his/her own robot and learning
at his/her pace and guided by the really friendly, dedicated and patience
trainer, Mr Koh. My girls as a beginner, they were taught and focus on
developing building skills and also being taught basic programming using simple
graphical based software.
There
was also a simple mission and challenge to test.
During
the lesson, my girls were taught to assemble the parts and will then use
software to program the robot to undertake tasks set by the
trainer.
 * check it out the photos slides below*  For my younger girl, Aisleyne, she was introduced to the Lego Wedo robotics kits and simple EV3 robots. Kinder (Level 1), it provides them a fun and intuitive way to appreciate and learn robotics as well as simple programming. *photos slides*  Computer Literacy
Computer Programming Skills
LEGO Construction Skills
She
learnt to hook up the robots to the computer via the supplied USB hub and
program the robots actions, response and sounds.
*photos slides* 
1st Robotics model she
tried - Spinning Birds
She
was started with the Spinning Birds model which provided a great
introduction to pulleys, gears and the WeDo software. Her first experience was
curious and the real excitement came the moment when she clicked on the start
icon on the program and to her surprise, the spinning birds spring to
life, it is spinning and even chirping.
*photos slides*
2nd Robotics model she did - Smart Spinner
The
class supposed to end soon but she asked the trainer to let her do another
model.
She
loves and enjoys it!!
At
first, I am still worrying whether she will be able to complete it as she has
really short attention span and it is hard to get her sit down patiently for
long and will get ants into pant but surprisingly she sat throughout. And when
I saw her joyful smiles and gleeful laughter when seeing each of the models she
did came to life.
It
was a great moment.
*photos slides* 
3rd Robotics model she did - Drumming Monkey
For
my elder girl Amabel, Foundation (level 2) she was taught using the LEGO
Mindstorm/EV3 model as a platform
Topics
covered include graphical based programming and basic motor movement control
and program robots to move in different directions and respond to sensors
inputs.
Computer Programming Skills
Construction Skills
*photos slides*
1st Robotics model she
tried
*photos slides*
2nd Robotics model she did - Grasshopper
She
so loves it and even asking whether she can bring it home.
Also,
during the lesson, I saw them figure something out for themselves.
I
noticed when they had difficulty envisioning the placement of some of the
pieces; they made some errors and when they could not quite continue to the
subsequent steps, they backtracked and managed to figure it where they went
wrong. They were so pleased with themselves when they managed to done with
it.
I feel that robotics is really about 'Minds
and hands', and that every kid should have a chance to be exposed to it at
least once in their lives.
Also
nowadays most schools (Primary, Secondary, JC) in Singapore offer Robotics as a
co-curricular activity (CCA). If your kids are interested in LEGO, robotics is
a CCA that I strongly encourage them to join. Not only do they get to work with
LEGO, they learn very useful life skills such as computer programming and
problem solving. These students also compete in several robotics competitions
every year, and here Thinking tap does offering this Special level to prepare
students for competitions also.
So, if you will like to see if your kids are interested in doing LEGO robotics,
they have a range of classes at Thinking Tap
from beginner to advance levels that runs every week.
Your
child can attend their 2-hrs trial session before decide to sign up for the
course or can attend their Holiday Robotics Workshop, call them to check for 2015 holiday workshop too
  
You can visit them @ the following
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/thinkingtap
Instagram:
@thinkingtap / http://instagram.com/thinkingtap/
 Thinking Tap Robotics Central @ Yen's Tuition Centre** (Conduct of regular weekend class available here)
Block 150A, Bishan Street 11,
#01-173, Singapore 571150
Thinking Tap Robotics North @ Jumpstart Interactive Learning** (Conduct of regular weekend class available here)
Blk 102, Yishun Ave 5
#02-131, Singapore 760102 Thinking Tap Robotics West @ Yen's Tuition Centre
West Coast Community Centre,
2 Clementi West Street 2, #01-03, Singapore 129605 Thinking Tap Robotics East @ Study Connection Education Pte Ltd
Block 473, Tampines Street 43,
#02-98, Singapore 520473 Labels: Educate, Kids activities, My Gallery, My Video, Our Activities, Recommendation, Share |
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