GearTicks fill a gap for kids with monthly STEMtastic Challenges

By Olivia Crisafi, Prerna Karmacharya, Amelia Pillar, and Victor Han

When the GearTicks, Lincoln’s high school robotics team, realized that the Covid-19 pandemic would make it impossible for First LEGO League (FLL) robotics teams to meet, they brainstormed alternative STEM activities to offer the town’s youth.

For the past 11 years, the GearTicks have mentored FLL robotics teams in Lincoln, Sudbury, and surrounding towns, making FLL and FLL Explore (a program for kids age 6-10) one of the most popular programs run by the town Parks and Recreation Department. Participating in programs such as FLL and FLL Explore provide students with the opportunity to learn about STEM hands-on through building LEGO robots to complete annual challenges.

Recognizing the lack of STEM activities for the town’s youth during the pandemic, the GearTicks brainstormed about how to best address this need. They developed a series of challenges for students that would expose them to STEM concepts with fun, educational activities for families to do together while also teaching them about the engineering design process. The result: teaming up with the Lincoln Public Library to offer STEMtastic Challenges.

Each month the GearTicks will release a new STEMtastic Challenges on their website. For each theme, the Lincoln Public Library will create a resources list, including books and websites that can be used for inspiration, instruction, and enrichment.

November’s theme was Marshmallow Architecture. Participants drew inspiration from books and their imagination to build marshmallow structures, which included everything from flying airplanes to earthquake-resistant buildings.

The GearTicks were impressed with the ingenuity and hard work of all the participants and are pleased to announce that the winner of November’s challenge is ten-year-old Lucy, who created a marshmallow-and-toothpick Big Ben. The high school students thought Lucy’s detailed drawing was great, and that she might enjoy learning to use some of the CAD tools they use to design robots.

The STEMtastic challenge for the month of December is Marble Runs. It’s a great opportunity for students of all ages to use materials they have around the house — anything from toilet paper rolls to disposable water bottles — and extra time from school breaks to participate in something fun and educational. It’s open to all ages, and participants are welcome to work together with family and friends over the holidays.

Submissions should be sent to stemsubmissions@gearticks.com by December 31. More challenge details can be found on the GearTicks’ December STEMtastic Challenge web page. To access the library’s resources, click here and scroll down to the blue GearTicks logo.