WINSLOW: Robotics team invited to national final round

Winslow Public Library

The Winslow Public Library has announced that its Wonder League Robotics Competition team, the Winslow Coders, has made it to the national final invitational round. Out of 5,300 teams participating around the country, approximately 280 were invited to this round.

The Winslow Coders are a group of four Winslow children between the ages of 8 and 12. They have been working weekly since October at the library on this project. They had three story-based missions to do, each with three parts, between October and February.

“Although we struggled a bit at the beginning, the team really rallied and made it through the last two missions in record time.” said co-coach Samantha Cote, Youth Services and Technology Librarian. Added her co-coach, Maine State Library’s STEM Liaison Christina Dorman, “Their dedication has been very impressive. We’re so excited for them to have this opportunity.”

Dash & Dot, the small programmable robots used in the Wonder League Robotics Competition, are popular among educators looking to introduce coding and robotics through project-based learning. The library’s robots were purchased with its Ambrose Endowment funds, which are designated for use in children’s and young adult programs. Participants in the Wonder League, ages 6 to 12, develop problem-solving, growth mindset, and creativity skills while learning to code.

The top five teams in the 6-8 and 9-12 age categories all receive official certificates, competition T-shirts, and Dash robots. Wonder Workshop will award a $5,000 STEM grant grand prize to the winning team in the age 6-8 category and the winning team in the age 9-12 category.

Wonder Workshop was founded in 2012 by inventors, designers, programmers, and parents on a mission to transform coding into a creative tool for children, starting at age five. Within its first month, Wonder Workshop delivered robots to 37 countries. Today, Wonder Workshop’s award winning, hands-on learning tools are used by K-5 students in more than 12,000 classrooms worldwide. Wonder Workshop’s standards-aligned, teacher developed curriculum is designed to cultivate interests in STEM fields at formative ages for all students. For more information, visit http://www.makewonder.com.

The Winslow Public Library can be contacted by phone at 872-1978, on the web at www.winslow-me.gov/departments/library, on our Facebook page, or you can email Samantha Cote, Youth Services/Technology Librarian at scote@winslow-me.gov.