Education
Promoting science at school
About Mindstorms
Mindstorms is a pilot programme for schools which encourages students to improve their understanding of maths and science, using the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot.
The Mindstorms pilot was launched in March 2009 and has been funded by the ESB. It is part of the Infinity Project education initiative, which helps students apply maths and science concepts they have learned in the classroom to the world around them.
Lego Mindstorms NXT robot
The Mindstorms robot has been used by teachers to stimulate interest in engineering for a number of years.
Students learn to programme the robot using National Instruments' NXT-G graphical programming language.
This helps them develop their problem solving skills and shows them that modern technology can be very understandable and is not something to be feared.
Mindstorms schools
The primary schools involved in the programme are:
- George's Hill
- St Vincent's
- St Paul's CBS
- O'Connell's CBS
Pupils are in fourth and fifth class, aged 9 to 11 years.
The secondary schools involved are:
- St James CBS
- Larkin College
Students are in first year, aged 13.
Our involvement
Our involvement with Mindstorms is an important contribution to increasing interest in maths, science and engineering subjects in students at primary school level.
“It is very much in line with ESB's own aim of building a pool of engineering talent that, in time, will become part of a valuable national human resource,” said ESB Group HR spokesman, Eugene Dalton.