Sadly, Dr. E’s WeDo Challenges and Dr. E’s MINDSTORMS Challenges will no longer be posting new challenges. However, both websites will remain up so that you can continue to access the previous challenges and all of the wonderful submissions. Thank you to LEGO Education and to the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach at Tufts University for their years of support (and thank you to LEGO for their amazing robotics platforms). During the six years of WeDo challlenges and five years of MINDSTORMS challenges, we received almost 1000 submissions from around the world. The two websites had a total of 1266 registered users from 57 different countries. We were truly a global community! We have always been inspired and energized by the creativity and innovation shown by the Dr. E's Challenges community; while new challenges won't be posted moving forward, we hope that you continue doing awesome stuff in your homes, clubs, and classrooms and that you continue to share your projects with the world! Collaborating with all of you has been a joy and an inspiration. Thank you, The folks at Dr. E’s

Category Archives: Classroom Connections

Classroom Connections

These activities are small projects designed to be done in the classroom. They can be used as practice before tackling a Dr. E’s challenge or as additional curriculum.

Some of the activities are Kit Extensions of projects from the basic WeDo set, 9580.

Other activities have STEM connections.

All Classroom Connections activities

Dancing Giant

In Giant Escape, the giant wakes when someone comes near. Modify the giant to do a dance move. Use the WeDo recording feature to have the song play before your giant does its dance. To start recording, click on the round record button under the microphone in the upper left corner of the screen. To […]

bbratzelSeptember 1, 2013Kit Extensionsbuilding, programming, sound

Gear Rack Girl

Gear Rack Girl: Use a gear rack to make a minifigure move from side to side. For information on using gear racks, see the Gears Snippet. Switching Gears: Switch the 8-tooth gear in the model to a 24-tooth gear. How is the motion of the figure affected? Can you use the number of teeth in […]

bbratzelSeptember 1, 2013STEM Connectionsbuilding, gears, LabVIEW, programming, sound, STEM

Crown Car

Crown Car: A crown gear lets you change the direction of motion by 90 degrees. Build a car using a crown gear so that two of your wheels are powered by the WeDo motor and the other two spin freely. For information about using crown gears, watch the Gears Snippet. For your two free-spinning tires, you […]

bbratzelSeptember 1, 2013STEM Connectionsbuilding, gears, sensors, STEM

Free Bird

The Flying Bird moves its wings when you tilt the tail. Use a motor to make the bird flap its wings on its own. Start by building the Flying Bird from WeDo kit 9580. Sample solution: Free Bird Created by Sara Willner-Giwerc

bbratzelAugust 31, 2013Kit Extensionsbuilding

Magic Camera

Magic Camera: Build a magic camera in which pressing a lever or pushing a button makes a new picture display on the computer screen. Number Counter: Change your camera to a counter. Every time the button is pushed, the number displayed on the screen increases by one. Mystery Math: Change the number counter program to […]

bbratzelAugust 29, 2013STEM Connectionsbuilding, programming, STEM

Picky Alligator

The Hungry Alligator snaps its jaw shut when any type of food appears. Change the hungry alligator to a picky eater—one that spits out its food instead. Start by building the Hungry Alligator from WeDo kit 9580. Sample solution: Picky Eater Alligator This solution uses extra rubber bands in addition to the WeDo kit. Created […]

bbratzelAugust 28, 2013Kit Extensionsbuilding

Open-Wide Lion

The Roaring Lion sits up when he roars. Change the lion so that it opens its mouth when it roars, as well as sitting up. Start this activity by building the Roaring Lion from WeDo kit 9580. Sample solution: Roaring Lion Challenge Created by Sara Willner-Giwerc

bbratzelAugust 28, 2013Kit Extensionsprogramming

Guarded Box

Guarded Box: Build a box to hold a treasure that is 8 cm long, 2 cm wide, and 2 cm high. Design a guard animal for the top of the box—one that will wake up and make noise if the lid is lifted. Measuring the Box: How much room is there inside the box? Find […]

bbratzelAugust 28, 2013STEM Connectionsbuilding, programming, sensors, STEM