Session 2 Recap: Building in the Blind
Our Gojos...or should I say "Google Its" (the official 2026-27 season team name) returned today for a communication and teamwork challenge.
Breaking into teams and racing against one another, each team was given the parts to replicate the same mystery lego model.
The trick?
Only one team member got to see the model and that team member was not allowed to touch any of the parts!
Finding precision in descriptions and coming up with shared terminology for parts and placements, teams navigated the frustration and uncertainty of not owning all the pieces of information needed to finish a task.
This exercise took a bite from Lesson 8 of the Team Playbook as we guided teams through a retrospective on what went right, what went wrong and what they might try next time. Failure IS an option, and by steamHouse accounts, it's actually a great option when paired with reflection. We saw noticeable improvements as teams mixed up roles and refined their approach the second time around.
Next, we reviewed some basic robotics measurement and movement and covered our 3Ps (position, parts, and program), which are essentials to consistency and accuracy in the robot game. Our returning team members paired up with newbies to start programming the "robot dance" - 4 robots are coordinated to meet in the middle of the dance floor mat and put up an arm to raise the roof! We saw some great teaching and learning moments from both our returners and newbies.
We closed out by writing down crew mate preferences so that we can announce official competition crews next session. And some of our new members went home with an EV3 practice robot.
Next session, we’ll check out the “Marshmallow Experiment” and reflect on how our thinking in the moment affects goal attainment in the future. We will wrap up our Robot Dance and official competition crews will be announced.
See you September 13th! Reminder - no regular session during Labor Day weekend!
Homework & Reminders
EV3 Classroom App - for those that took home a practice robot
Review & Score BIOGLOW Missions - Mission Video and Score Sheet
Build Mission Models - for build instructions chose “Founders Edition Grades 4-8 (Challenge)” and then scroll to the “Build Instructions” section. This chart shows which model(s) you are building based on which bags you received.
Give us your Gojos T-shirt size
Submit a T-shirt design(optional) with the team name “Google it!”
Labor Day meetup "Build & Grill" Potluck (optional) - if you are in town Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 7th), we are going to have a casual grill out at steamHouse. We have two additional full sets of mission models to build! So come join us for builds, brats, and hot dogs and whatever sides or treats you’d like to bring! We'll build from around 3-5pm and grill from 5-7pm. NO REGULAR SESSION THIS WEEK.
* Note the Schedule Change * JeffCo schools has a teacher workday Sept. 18th, so we will be moving practice from Sept. 20th to Sept 27th to accommodate any family plans for the long weekend.
steamHouse Commons Connection
In this session, we introduced Lesson 8 from the Team Playbook. We’ll be revisiting this often throughout the season as it’s a big skill for Robotics teamwork and for LIFE!
Playbook Lesson 8: What Now? How do we learn from what just happened?
At steamHouse, we know that failure is information, not identity. It goes by many names - a retrospective, post-mortem, After Action Review. The point is simply to learn from our actions; wins and losses, positives and negatives.
A simply series of questions keeps our focus on learning rather than looking for someone to blame.
What did we expect to happen?
What actually happened?
Why the difference?
What do we change next time?
Stay tuned for more steamHouse connections as the season rolls on!