A local First Lego League (FLL) team is headed for an invitational competition in May where they plan to showcase an invention that solves fidgeting problems kids have in the classroom.
The FLL team, Circle of Seven, consists of Kirkland residents and students Eric Hoelscher, Thomas Yarborough and Joshua Elmore, Kenmore resident Justin Smith, Bothell residents Andrew and Ben Netterfield, and Snohomish resident Nicholas Cutuli, who have been selected to represent Western Washington at the FLL Open Invitational Championships in Carlsbad, Calif. May 15-17.
There, they hope they will get the exposure they need for their invention to help kids with fidgeting. At the moment, they are actively fundraising to pay for their trip.
During this year’s competitions, they earned a trophy for “Best Innovative Solution” at the qualifier, the overall “Champions” award at the semifinals, and a trophy for “Gracious Professionalism” at the state competition.
As part of the league, teams develop a project based on a theme. Last year, the theme was natural disasters, and the team – then under the name Masters of Disasters – created a subscription service for food emergency kits. The project made the top 10 for Global Innovation and received a free submission to Edison Nation’s online platform, which helps inventors get their ideas off the ground.
For this year’s theme of education, Circle of Seven created a tool to help kids deal with fidgeting. It is an issue one of the members struggles with in class.
Hoelscher said they researched the problem and found much of fidgeting can be caused by problems with proprioception, the sense of how one’s body is positioned.
“Kids were not focusing on class,” he said. “If they were focusing they were stomping their feet, tapping their feet….they have to shake their foot or leg to wake it up.”
Elmore, whose parents Richard and Jeanette coach the team, said they tinkered around with the conceptual design before creating the final device, while Hoelscher said they brought in different textures and tested them out on different sections of the board to see if it worked.
“The very beginning idea was more of a big exercise machine that could be used for proprioception,” Elmore said.
“We pretty much work together as a team,” Hoelscher said. “Basically we did rotations, everybody worked equally on it… we all brought ideas to the table for different textures.”
He added they tried to come up with something that would not only solve the fidgeting, but be practical for the classroom.
“A lot of teachers didn’t want to give kids squeeze balls,” he said. “A lot of kids would be disruptive… we’ve made the board so it goes just under the desk and it’s hidden. They’re not able to mess around with it or move it around.”
The Pro-Board has a variety of “fidget busters” on it with different textures, such as squeezy balls and buttons to push. Intended to be used in the classroom, the board can be slid under a desk so that the student can use it without drawing attention to themselves.
“It’s kind of discreet,” Annette Hoelscher said. “For the kids that are always tapping their pencils or making noise or moving, it helps them to focus because they don’t know where their body is in space. You’re limited in a classroom because you don’t want kids walking around.”
As they were taking the prototype to various competitions, the Pro-Board caught people’s attention, including a teacher who later told them at another competition she would like to use in her own classroom.
“She came back and we wanted to find out when it’s going to be available,” Elmore said.
The team’s hope is that by competing in the three days of FLL events, they will be able to find a way to make Pro-Board available to students across the country.
Those interested in donating to their team can make a tax deductible donation at www.firstwa.org/SupportUs.aspx by specifying the donation is for Team 189.
