Sometimes I browse through Google’s Hot Trends - it’s an easy way to see what folks are into. Today, one of those trends was one of my favorite things, the first lego league! FLL is an organization that teaches middle school kids college level engineering through having them build awesome robots out of legos and then having them compete in obstacle course like challenges. I used to be a FLL coach and I loved loved loved it. In fact, my first TakePart blog post ever (back in November) was actually about lego robotics.

Since I know that besides my mom and dad, not too many folks probably visited out site on day one, I thought I’d repost the story below.. YAY LEGOS!
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When it comes to education, should we stop testing, should we test more and if we do, what test should we use? New national tests indicate that New York City 8th graders in the public school system haven’t improved at all on math and reading tests since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took over the school system in 2005. This contrasts with state results that have shown consistent improvement. Under No Child Left Behind, testing is required for students in grades 3-8, but it’s up to each state to decide what results mean proficiency and to create their own tests. Some say that the State’s tests are too simple and not actually representative of a student’s actual level.

On the other side of that coin, a group in Washington state has decided that not only do our students need to be more creative, that they need to be taught it. Creativity Matters argues that creativity needs to be focused in more than just the arts, that teachers, need to work on implementing curriculum that uses the imagination in subjects like science and math. They suggest replacing tests and book work with more experimental and project based learning.Creative curriculum of course sounds great, but national standards make it hard to implement.

A great example of one organization that is giving New York City students a way to learn college level engineering and be creative after school is The First Lego League - an International organization that uses robots and obstacle courses built out of Legos to help kids as young as 9 to learn science and math. I can’t help but wonder how the students below did on their tests?