ALLAN MADDEN

The sight of a robot performing a hip-hop dance routine might once have raised eyebrows in the classroom - but not any more. For children being visited by the Generation Science team, it's all part of the school day.

Generation Science, the education arm of the Edinburgh International Science Festival, launched its summer tour this month with a series of now-sold-out Lego Mindstorms workshops for schools.

Lego Mindstorms is a hands-on workshop for children from the levels of primary four to primary seven. The idea originated with the Lego Robosports attractions at the 2007 and 2008 Science Festivals, and the sessions use the latest Lego technology to provide an interactive experience that fires children's imaginations while teaching them the basics of programming.

For those who blinked at the phrase "latest Lego Technology", there may be some catching up to do. These days the construction "toy" comes in many forms, including robotics sets that enable the construction of robots with a programmable "brick" at the core.

Each robot contains a small computer, a light sensor to allow it to differentiate between areas of light and dark, and an ultrasound sensor that enables it to navigate an obstacle course.

The popularity of the robots and the response they elicited from the children visiting the festival in previous years prompted the team to take their show on the road. By bringing the robots into the classroom, the group are making a firm association between the fun that the robots provide and the fun of learning and taking part in group activities. "I really liked learning how to program my robot to dance," explained nine-year-old Kirsty Oliver from Aitkenbar Primary School in Dumbarton.

Simon Gage, director of the Science Festival and Generation Science, has great confidence both in the technology and the children who will be using it. "The sign of a good piece of design is that after talking about how it all works for about five minutes, the kids learn themselves, faster than you could teach them. They get it instantly and then they're off. By the end of an hour they are programming robots to breakdance."

One of the strengths of the workshop is that the 11 members of the team each bring a laptop and a robot. Splitting an average class into groups of three children, they teach how to program the robot to perform basic tasks. This means that each child gets a much closer look at how the computer programming operates than they could hope for in an average science class. It is also an opportunity for the children to let their imaginations run wild, dictating what they can program the robots to do.

The Generation Science initiative has been a striking success. It reaches more than 65,000 primary- school children in more than 600 schools each year and is by far the largest science touring programme in the UK.

The unprecedented success of the Lego workshop is credited to the cutting-edge technology employed and the response it gets from the children. Gage says: "They get engaged and are motivated because they've never seen this kind of stuff before."

The team have recognised that children perform better when they are stimulated and involved in their lessons. Dancing robots aside, the Lego Mindstorms workshop is a serious attempt to reconnect with children about science and get them to care as much about their education as parents, teachers and policy-makers do.

  • Bookings for 2009 are now being taken. Call 0131 557 5588 or e-mail generationscience@scifest.co.uk