Exciting news: Our very own FLL Correspondent!
Jill Wilker
Nor Cal Teams -
You might have heard and read about the new FLL blog, FLL Community
Stories at http://fllblog.wordpress.com
What you may not know is that
the 1st official correspondent is Nor Cal's very own, Heidi Buck. You
may have heard of Heidi's team from the 2008 Climate Connections
challenge, Lego Guards, who had some amazing and exciting post-season
(and in fact, ongoing) adventures related to their project idea...
Heidi is very interested, as we are, in helping to create more
excitement, interest and information about the project and specifically
about the process of creating a project idea and solution. The vast
majority of the project materials and videos that exist for/from FLL
teams, show the finished team's project, not the journey along the
way. If you and/or your team would be interested in sharing your
project's "journey" of how you approach this aspect of the challenge,
please contact Heidi as soon as possible to work out logistics. We
would like to strongly encourage you to consider this as we are also
very excited by this initiative and where it can take you and the
program.
Here is an intro letter from Heidi...
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Hello Nor Cal FLL teams,
My name is Heidi Buck, and FIRST has asked me to spearhead a new global position - FLL Correspondent - for their new blog: FIRST Lego League Stories (http://fllblog.wordpress.com). For this blog we will be interviewing teams, volunteers, sponsors, and supporters to capture their experiences and stories with the FLL program. Additionally, this is a place where we offer project motivation hints and ideas and also follow the processes that teams go through during the season. This season I’m focussing on Northern California - and I’d love to share your stories! With your help and input, this blog will definitely be a success!
In addition to the blog, there is another activity that I’m getting started. It’s called “Project Avenue” and it also is beginning right here in Northern California. I’d like to offer your teams an opportunity to be directly involved in this project as well.
In general, Project Avenue will be a continuous documentary of teams’ journeys with the project. To create these, I would like to meet on a monthly basis with some teams, for about an hour during your regular meeting, and learn about (and document) the progress of the project. I will then create small video shorts that feature the teams’ experiences. They will be posted on the FIRST YouTube channel and will also be featured on the blog.
The purpose of these videos is not to share project ideas, but instead help teams around the world get excited about the project portion of the FLL season. I want to document the journey be telling the stories of how teams come up with an idea, how they work together as a team and how they share their ideas within their communities. There is no such thing as a bad idea, and by having your team spend a little time sharing their journey with me I also want to help them realize how fun the research presentation can be! I’ve personally seen how some very exciting things can happen with the project -- things that last long after the robot has been put away!
For Project Avenue, I am looking for all types of FLL teams to be involved, including rookies and veterans. If you are interested in being one of the teams, please let Jill or me know!
Thank you!
Heidi
About me: I have been involved with FIRST in FLL coaching for 5 years.
My
teams have won the State Champions award, and my Climate Connection
team not only won the first place NorCal Project Award, but was also
one of 6 teams chosen (worldwide) to present their project in
Copenhagen at the Children’s Climate Action Summit. That project
(Forest Guard) won and is currently being implemented by SONY-Europe
and the University of Nevada - Reno. Additionally, SONY created a
documentary (which should be on television globally next year) about
the team, their idea, and their journey (The Forest Guards). Those same
students met Princes and a Princess, spoke at length with the
President’s White House Science advisor, talked with Dean Kamen, and
more.
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Jill Wilker/Mark Edelman, Playing At Learning
Northern California partner for FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge
(510) 656-8664 playingatlearning.org
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