Hannah McNeal, left, and Elizabeth Brame test out their computer-programmed Lego vehicle. The seventh graders are among almost 30 local kids in a three-year Digispired class. Funded with $891,000 from the National Science Foundation, and held in three Virginia sites, Digispired originally targeted the poor, minorities and girls, although the Halifax class has plenty of students who don’t fit that profile. For their attendance, the students get paid in installments, up to a total of $750.

Legos + computer games = 21st century education


By MARY EVA CASSADA
Special to The News & Record
“If we told them, ‘You’re coming to learn about science, technology, engineering and math’ they wouldn’t have come,” lamented Susan Throckmorton of Longwood University, a Halifax County woman who works with the director of a unique high-tech program and whose daughter participates.
So the rising seventh-graders were instead lured by the kid-friendly packaging of Digispired, which promised Lego robotics, animation and computer fun. Oh, and up to $750 per child, paid in installments (and docked for absences).
The catch to all this – if there is one – is that the kids must commit to three years of Digispired, with two-week summer stints and 10 all-day Saturdays throughout the school years.
On a beautiful, crisp September Saturday, though, there was no whining as almost 30 kids tinkered with programmable Legos in the high-tech Smart Lab at the Halifax County Middle School – a little oasis of Silicon Valley in Southside.
“It’s kind of fun, but we have to do it on our own,” said Elexis Ward, 12, who worked not solely alone but in a group with three others.
The collaborative effort can be foreign to American students, despite it being the norm in so much of the business world today, noted their main teacher, Dr. Seung Yang of Virginia State University.
“The main idea is how to bring gaming and robotics to help them understand science, math and engineering skills, and how they’re actually in our life,” said Yang.
In addition to the computer and Lego work, the youngsters are also working, long-term, on energy efficiency – looking at big consumers in Halifax County.
And how are the kids performing?
“Wonderful. Better than I thought,” said Yang.
Digispired – aside from being a clever ploy to get kids into math and science – is administered by Longwood University’s Institute for Teaching Through Technology and Innovative Practices and funded through their $891,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
Longwood has three Digispired sites going – in addition to Halifax there’s Farmville and Hopewell – and the original intent was to attract 90 low-income, minority and girl students. In Halifax, though, that demographic wasn’t the demographic that signed up: The class has plenty of middle-class white boys.
Instructor and Middle School teacher Kelly Weatherford wouldn’t speculate on why, but did point to the three-year commitment, the classes parents are invited to take and transportation, which is not provided. (Lunch is.)
But she noted that of those who are the target students, “They’re just blooming in here.”
Another instructor, Forrest Layne, an art teacher on weekdays, praised the “wonderful” kids as he caromed between clusters of intent children trying to find computer cords and answer questions.
The day of “work” – which looks a lot like focused fun – eventually will encompass not only Lego robotics but game-design programs like Kahootz, Squeak, Alice and Flash, the idea being to design 50 downloadable games – not just passively play them. There are field trips to science centers and game industries, interaction with experts and researchers and, generally, career exploration.
As for the Mamas and Daddys, their workshops include topics like e-mail use, digital photography and computers.
According to Longwood, other institutions collaborating on the project include Virginia State University, the Southside Virginia Regional Technology Consortium and the Science Museum of Virginia.
“I’d rather do this than anything else,” shrugged Ceciley Brinn, 12, after a lunch of pizza. “I meet new people and get to do new things, and my mom hopes it will be good for my education later.”