The students crowded excitedly around the laptop as they plotted their robot’s next move. The task seemed simple: get the robotic car past the obstacles in under an hour’s time. But this challenge for DIS students at the lower school proved to be much more of a learning experience than they had expected.

In fact, while all students from grades CP-CM2 participated, each grade had a different robotics challenge for the day. Some had to guide their robot through obstacles, while others were tasked with programming code onto their laptops to form geometric shapes and grids of precise measurements. The challenge, which was organized by DIS’ Jean-Francois Lopez with MLF America and carried out by STEM teacher Wendie Meymarian, was meant to guide students through a problem both sequentially and visually, while also developing coordination, critical thinking, logic and problem-solving skills. Those who completed the challenge sent in a photo or video of their results to MLF America and received a certificate of completion as a reward.

As the students were guiding their robots and plotting their geometric grids, two things were clear: they were learning and they were having fun.