Solving water problems with Lego? For these grade 7 and 8 kids it's child's play

Two teams of students at Westminster Woods Public School in Guelph are taking Lego beyond their living rooms and into a competition.

They're creating a robot to complete a series of challenges in a game, and present a solution to a real world problem.

The competition is called FirstLego League and this year the theme is hydrodynamics.

Brainstorming has started, and one team is thinking of a drainage system where floodwater is brought into a reservoir and filtered, to reduce the damage by hurricane-related floods.

"We can use the sea water brought in from the hurricane to help reduce flooding and also produce fresh water for other uses," Oscar Kim, a grade eight student on the co-ed team, told CBC News.

Team selection

Kim came into the team with experience working with Lego. He had to apply to be on one of two teams that are sponsored by Synnex Canada, a wholesale computer distributor based in Etobicoke.

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"Not everyone on the team came in with programming skills or robotics skills," said Rylan Pranger, a grade seven teacher at Westminster Woods and one of the coaches on the team.

Pranger said the application process asked the students what skills they would bring to the team.

"They're very diverse," he said.

Pranger noted that while building a robot is a component of the competition, the other focus is on teaching students how they can apply things they've learned in class to solving problems.

"The actual identification of a water-related issue, and posing solutions, isn't necessarily a Lego or robotics fix," he said.

A regional competition will take place in December, and Kim is excited to take part.

"It's a way for kids that usually can't make a big of a difference to react and try and solve real world problems that are happening right now, instead of just letting adults do all the thinking," Kim said.