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This teacher needs your help!

Mrs. Hansen from Stella, MO is requesting educational kits & games through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

See what Mrs. Hansen is requesting

Bugs, Biomimicry, and Robots

My students need a Lego Mindstorms EV3, a Lego Ev3 expansion set, a variety of sensors, rechargeable battery, and extra cables to build robots that mimic the insects.

  • $975 goal

This project expired on July 30, 2018.

This project expired on July 30, 2018.

My Students

"Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve." - Roger Lewin. I teach 1st-8th grade gifted students in Southwest Missouri. These vibrant, eager students need opportunities to stretch and grow their minds in ways they can't always do in a regular classroom. Robert Maynard Hutchins has said, "The objective of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives."

My students need to be challenged to experiment, observe, take risks, and solve problems as they learn about all subjects.

Creativity and critical thinking are learned skills that requires instruction and practice. Critical thinking and problem solving can be taught by using instructional strategies that actively engage students in the learning process rather than relying on lecture and rote memorization, and by focusing instruction on the process of learning rather than solely on the content.

Most students, mine included, love observing and learning about insects. We always have some sort of creepy crawling classroom pet, from hatching Monarch Butterflies to experimenting with Styrofoam eating mealworms. Now I would like to engage them in engineering with biomimicry.

My Project

Biomimicry is defined as “design inspired by nature.” When a creator notices that a plant or animal does something well, they can incorporate that physiology or behavior into their creations.

My students would like to research and observe different insects and then mimic interesting insect behavior to build better robots.

When a click beetle lands on its back, it doesn’t roll back and forth to get up. So, it “clicks” its back to launch itself into the air and hopes that it lands right-side up. Could this behavior be mimicked to build robots that can right themselves if they tip over?

Could robots be built to jump like grasshoppers? Could we build flying robots that mimic flying insects? What other robotic problems could be solved by learning from insects? These are some of the questions that my students will be trying to answer as we build robots that mimic the insects that they have observed. The LEGO Mindstorm EV3 sets will be excellent building materials to use while engineering our biomimicking robots.

Mrs. Hansen
Grades 6-8
    More than half of students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

    This project will reach 68 students.

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Lego Mindstorms EV3 31313 LEGO Mindstorms EV3 parallel import goods • Amazon Business $379.99 1 $379.99
MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Expansion Set • LEGO Education $103.95 1 $103.95
EV3 Rechargeable DC Battery • LEGO Education $88.95 1 $88.95
Transformer 10V DC • LEGO Education $31.95 1 $31.95
EV3 Gyro Sensor • LEGO Education $31.95 1 $31.95
EV3 Ultrasonic Sensor • LEGO Education $31.95 1 $31.95
EV3 Infrared Sensor • LEGO Education $31.95 1 $31.95
EV3 Infrared Beacon • LEGO Education $31.95 1 $31.95
EV3 Touch Sensor • LEGO Education $21.95 1 $21.95
EV3 Cable Pack • LEGO Education $16.95 1 $16.95

Materials cost

$771.54

Vendor shipping charges

 $15.00

Sales tax

 $0.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$11.57

Fulfillment labor & materials

$30.00

Total project cost

$828.11

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$146.14

Total project goal

$974.25

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Hansen and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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