First Lego Robotics
Six elementary schools (Jardine, McCarter, McEachron, Quincy, Randolph, and Williams) participate in the First Lego League. Students in grades 1-3 participate in the FLL Explore program. They begin with a real-world problem and then create solutions to address the problem. Students learn all about the topic and then create a Lego model that has moveable parts and create a poster board and presentation about what they learned.
The other component at the upper elementary level (grades four through five) is the First Lego League Challenge, which consists of the Robot Game, the Innovation Project, and the Core Values component. In the Robot Game students user engineering skills, collaboration and problem solving skills to build a thematic model of a city or community and a programmable interactive robot that can complete specific tasks assigned to the community. Teams earn points for tasks successfully completed during a limited time period. The Innovation Project is where the team identifies a real-world problem in the community based on the seasonal theme and then researches a solution to solve the problem. Students must create poster boards and displays and then collaborate to create a presentation based on what they are learned and how they plan to solve the problem. The Core Values component is a citizenship piece emphasizing Discover, Innovation, Impact, Inclusion, Teamwork and Fun.
Four middle schools (Chase, French, Jardine, and Landon) also complete in the First Lego League (FLL) Challenge. Middle School students use the same component as the upper elementary students, but it is at more difficult level and the coding and tasks for the Robot games are timed and students earn points for tasks successfully completed.