S.P.A.M. Lesson Plans For Camp in a Box

S.P.A.M. stands for Speed, Power, And Maneuverability ​ We are made up of 70 high school students from Martin County, Florida Our students build 120 pound robots in 6 weeks to compete in a world-wide competition called FIRST Robotics. ​ ​ FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. ​

Our team believes in Gracious Professionalism which is part of the ethos of FIRST. It's a way of doing things ​ that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. With Gracious Professionalism, fierce competition and mutual gain are not separate notions. ​ ​

We want to spread the excitement of FIRST to the world and you are part of this excitement. ​ ​

Our students help teach science and technology to children in our area by exploring the wonderful world of LEGO. With LEGO you can learn about Simple Machines, Cause and Effect, Forces, Structures, etc. Today we are going to cover Cause and Effect, Forces, and Structure with LEGO Balloon Cars!

Each of you (or if more than 25 students than let them work in groups of two per bag) will get a bag which will contain everything you need to make a LEGO Balloon Car. Tell the students they will have 5 to 10 minutes to try to figure out on their own the way this car works. 10 minutes later show the picture of the car and then have them proceed to build. Once the cars are built place blown up balloon between the LEGO Bricks and carefully have the students release the car on a smooth surface. It will take multiple tries before someone figures it out and then all will get it Have a race!

S.P.A.M. Lesson Plans For LEGO Camp in a Box

Fun Lego Facts ● The plural of LEGO is LEGO. It doesn’t matter if you have one or one hundred pieces of LEGO, it’s still LEGO – although ​ many people call them . ● LEGO comes from the Danish word leg godt. Leg godt means “play well” in Danish and LEGO is made from the first two ​ ​ ​ letters of each word. ● LEGO is 83 years old. began in 1932 in Billund, and was founded by Ole Kirk Christiansen. ​ ● The company is 83 years old, but the interlocking LEGO blocks were manufactured from 1949. This makes the LEGO blocks we all know and love 66 years old. ● Ole Kirk Christiansen was a carpenter. He lost his business and began to make toys out of his leftover wood. He was ​ inspired to construct a small wooden duck toy for his children and when they loved it he put them into production to sell. ● LEGO was originally called “Automatic Binding Bricks”. LEGO were not actually the first company to market the bricks. ​ They modified and improved the original Kiddicraft bricks to create their own.The LEGO Group eventually purchased the ​ rights to the Kiddicraft block in 1981. ● In 1958, the LEGO brick with the familiar tubes inside and studs on was patented. This was done on 28 January, 1958 ​ and all 2 x 4 LEGO bricks since then have been produced to the exact measurements of this patent.A LEGO brick from 1958 ​ would interlock with a brick from 2015. The patent introduced what is called a “universal system” so that each piece is ​ compatible with all other pieces, regardless of the year or set it belongs to. ● LEGO sued a Chinese company who made “Coko bricks” in 2002. These blocks were very similar to LEGO bricks and ​ Coko were forced to cease production and issue a formal apology as well. ● bricks are eight times the size of original LEGO bricks. Because of the universal system they will still ​ connect together. ● The , also known as “minifig” or just “fig” was first introduced in 1978. The early figures before this, in ​ 1975, had no facial features, gender, arms, or moveable legs. ● Each LEGO minifigure is exactly four bricks high without a hat. ● Since the first minifigure in 1978 more than 4 billion have been made. This makes LEGO them the world’s largest ​ population group (if they were alive)! ● As of 2013, over 560 billion LEGO parts have been produced. On average, that is 86 LEGO bricks for every single person ​ on the earth. ● LEGO is the world’s largest producer of rubber wheels. They produce more than Bridgestone, Goodyear and all other car ​ tyre manufacturers. ● The tallest LEGO tower was 94 feet high and used 465,000 bricks. The tower was a pirate ship mast with a “treasure” ​ made of gold, yellow and clear bricks on top and was built at in California. ● In 2009, British TV presenter James May built a life size house out of LEGO. It used 3.3 million bricks and it included a ​ working toilet, a shower and a bed – which was very uncomfortable.In 2012, 45.7 billion LEGO bricks were produced. This ​ ​ actually works out to be a rate of 5.2 million LEGO bricks per hour. ● 18 out of every million LEGO pieces fail to meet the company standard. This is because the factory process is so ​ streamlined and efficient. ● If you laid all of the LEGO bricks sold in 2012 end­to­end, they would stretch around the world more than 18 times. ● Seven LEGO sets are sold every second. By the time you have read this fact, dozens of LEGO sets have been sold around ​ the world. ● You could reach the moon with a column of around 40 billion LEGO bricks. The column would be over 384,400 km tall. ​ ● There are actually enough LEGO bricks to stack from the Earth to the moon – ten times. ​ ​ ● Six eight­stud LEGO bricks can be combined in over 915 million different ways. Two bricks can be combined 24 different ​ ways, and three bricks 1,060 ways. ● The largest commercial LEGO set is the Taj Mahal set. It has 5,922 individual pieces.There are no LEGO sets with a war ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ or military theme. This is because Ole Kirk Christiansen didn’t want to make war seem appealing to children. ​ ● In 2011, astronauts took LEGO to space. It was caused the “LEGO Bricks in Space” program and 13 LEGO sets were taken ​ to the International Space Station to see how they react in microgravity. ● In 2000, LEGO was named “Toy of the Century” by the British Association of Toy Retailers. LEGO beat both the ​ common teddy bear and the Barbie doll. ● There are artists who sculpt their work exclusively using LEGO. A New York based artist called Nathan Sawaya was the ​ first artist to ever take LEGO into the art world. He is shown in museums throughout America and has a touring exhibition called “The Art Of The Brick.” ● In 2014, the LEGO Group became the world’s largest toy company. They are now larger than Mattel. ​ S.P.A.M. Lesson Plans For LEGO Camp in a Box