|
Life in the panhandle of Oklahoma, Texas & Southwest Kansas may not remind you a lot of a STEM project but you could really be surprised. While we may have been one of the last to install indoor plumbing and electricity and our internet is just recently upgraded slightly above "Caveman-net" status, there really is a lot of Tech out here, just in a bit different way than most might recognize. Our tech usually serves the oil and gas industry (if something blows up, who'd notice out here?) and livestock (most people have no idea where the ingredients in jello come from anyway...). Cowboys like tech, especially when it's in the form of a new firearm or equipment that makes the ranch run more economically.
|
For the last several years, (I forget when that first Lego camp was...) the Mid-America Air Museum has hosted a Lego Robotics camp and teams for the FIRST Lego League. They've slowly been branching out to support more teams in the area and this year our 4-H club is joining the ranks! The children are very excited.
Our 4-H club has been very busy the past few months between the county and state fair and planning for events this fall. They decided to host their own Fall Festival to raise funds for membership and projects this year. There will be a costume contest, petting zoo, games, food, and a silent auction. After we clean up and recuperate from all that, we'll be helping host a Veteran's dinner. We meet in a little old one room schoolhouse on the prairie.
Adding robotics is going to fit in wonderfully this year. The theme is "Animal Allies". The title kinda threw me for a loop at first, then after watching a few videos I realized what they were going for. There are tools we use out here with the animals that can be very helpful, like a milking machine. If you have very many dairy cows or goats to milk, a milking machine is a big help. Another thought that came to mind was the movie "A Dolphin's Tale". We don't have dolphins out here but the children and I love the movie and we really appreciate how the true story resulted in technology that has also helped some of our disabled Veterans and others with more comfortable and useful prosthesis. While we may not ever have robots caring for the animals, some of the science and technology does make it out here in some way, shape, or form. I'm thrilled the children will be learning practical uses and problem solving techniques that can potentially help make farming, ranching & oil field production more economical.
Our 4-H club has been very busy the past few months between the county and state fair and planning for events this fall. They decided to host their own Fall Festival to raise funds for membership and projects this year. There will be a costume contest, petting zoo, games, food, and a silent auction. After we clean up and recuperate from all that, we'll be helping host a Veteran's dinner. We meet in a little old one room schoolhouse on the prairie.
Adding robotics is going to fit in wonderfully this year. The theme is "Animal Allies". The title kinda threw me for a loop at first, then after watching a few videos I realized what they were going for. There are tools we use out here with the animals that can be very helpful, like a milking machine. If you have very many dairy cows or goats to milk, a milking machine is a big help. Another thought that came to mind was the movie "A Dolphin's Tale". We don't have dolphins out here but the children and I love the movie and we really appreciate how the true story resulted in technology that has also helped some of our disabled Veterans and others with more comfortable and useful prosthesis. While we may not ever have robots caring for the animals, some of the science and technology does make it out here in some way, shape, or form. I'm thrilled the children will be learning practical uses and problem solving techniques that can potentially help make farming, ranching & oil field production more economical.
Lego company and the FIRST program are in no way affiliated with Prairie Dust Trail or Dawnita Fogleman and have not sponsored or paid in any way for this post. Sign up for our newsletter to get regular updates and subscriber freebies.
RSS Feed