What is FLL?
FIRST®LEGO® League introduces younger students (9-14) to real-world engineering challenges by building LEGO-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface. FLL teams, guided by their imaginations and adult coaches, discover exciting career possibilities and, through the process, learn to make positive contributions to society.
Elementary and middle-school students get to:
Design, build, test and program robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology
Apply real-world math and science concepts
Research challenges facing today’s scientists
Learn critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills
Participate in tournaments and celebrations
What FLL teams accomplish is nothing short of amazing. It’s fun. It’s exciting. And the skills they learn will last a lifetime.
Elementary and middle-school students get to:
Design, build, test and program robots using LEGO MINDSTORMS® technology
Apply real-world math and science concepts
Research challenges facing today’s scientists
Learn critical thinking, team-building and presentation skills
Participate in tournaments and celebrations
What FLL teams accomplish is nothing short of amazing. It’s fun. It’s exciting. And the skills they learn will last a lifetime.
The FLL Challenge:
FLL releases a Challenge, which is based on a real-world scientific topic. Each Challenge has two parts: the Robot Game and the Project. Teams of up to ten children, with one adult coach, participate in the Challenge by programming an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field (Robot Game) and developing a solution to a problem they have identified (Project). Teams may then choose to attend an official tournament.
The teams spend 8-10 weeks from September - December preparing their robots and researching for their projects. They will prepare for a 2.5 minute robot challenge where they will try to acquire up to 400 points on a set challenge mat that every team in the world prepares with. They will also take their research and prepare a 5 minute presentation to share their solution to a world problem. At competition, children have 3 judging sessions: robot, project and core values. They will also have 3 qualifying runs on the robot table and possibly compete in a final robot elimination round. This format is used at Regional, Provincial (State) and World Festival events.
Past Challenges have been based on topics such as nanotechnology, climate, quality of life for the handicapped population, and transportation. By designing our Challenges around such topics, participants are exposed to potential career paths within a chosen Challenge topic, in addition to solidifying the STEM principles that naturally come from participating in a robotics program. Team members also learn valuable life and employment skills which will benefit them no matter which career path they choose.
The teams spend 8-10 weeks from September - December preparing their robots and researching for their projects. They will prepare for a 2.5 minute robot challenge where they will try to acquire up to 400 points on a set challenge mat that every team in the world prepares with. They will also take their research and prepare a 5 minute presentation to share their solution to a world problem. At competition, children have 3 judging sessions: robot, project and core values. They will also have 3 qualifying runs on the robot table and possibly compete in a final robot elimination round. This format is used at Regional, Provincial (State) and World Festival events.
Past Challenges have been based on topics such as nanotechnology, climate, quality of life for the handicapped population, and transportation. By designing our Challenges around such topics, participants are exposed to potential career paths within a chosen Challenge topic, in addition to solidifying the STEM principles that naturally come from participating in a robotics program. Team members also learn valuable life and employment skills which will benefit them no matter which career path they choose.
Here is an example Released Aug. 2014
Think About It
You have probably learned so many things in your life that it is hard to count them. You started learning as soon as you were born. You learned to walk, tie your shoes, and how to read this Challenge. You might have learned to dance, paint, or play an instrument. You might even have learned how to kick a soccer ball at the perfect angle to score a goal.
To have fun in many core subjects — like history, science, art, and math — you need to develop specific skills. In fact, skills are your tools to learn at any age.
There is so much to learn, but people do not all learn the same way. Just like there is more than one way to build your robot, there is more than one way to learn most things. We call these different ways of learning “learning styles.” Most people learn through some combination of watching, listening, reading, writing, moving, and even playing. Do you have a favorite way to learn new knowledge or skills?
No matter what learning style you use most, there are many surprising tricks that might help a person learn. For example:
1. Some video games help you understand how the three-dimensional world fits together. This skill is called “spatial
reasoning.” It could help you engineer and innovate.
2. Singing the rules of a new game might help you remember them more easily than reading them.
3. Building with LEGO bricks could help you learn math and engineering concepts.
Some learning tools or techniques might make learning more exciting, while others help you remember the information for a longer time. Your Project mission this season is to find a better or more innovative way to help someone learn.
Think About It
You have probably learned so many things in your life that it is hard to count them. You started learning as soon as you were born. You learned to walk, tie your shoes, and how to read this Challenge. You might have learned to dance, paint, or play an instrument. You might even have learned how to kick a soccer ball at the perfect angle to score a goal.
To have fun in many core subjects — like history, science, art, and math — you need to develop specific skills. In fact, skills are your tools to learn at any age.
There is so much to learn, but people do not all learn the same way. Just like there is more than one way to build your robot, there is more than one way to learn most things. We call these different ways of learning “learning styles.” Most people learn through some combination of watching, listening, reading, writing, moving, and even playing. Do you have a favorite way to learn new knowledge or skills?
No matter what learning style you use most, there are many surprising tricks that might help a person learn. For example:
1. Some video games help you understand how the three-dimensional world fits together. This skill is called “spatial
reasoning.” It could help you engineer and innovate.
2. Singing the rules of a new game might help you remember them more easily than reading them.
3. Building with LEGO bricks could help you learn math and engineering concepts.
Some learning tools or techniques might make learning more exciting, while others help you remember the information for a longer time. Your Project mission this season is to find a better or more innovative way to help someone learn.
FLL at E-Bots
Our experience with FLL has been a very rewarding one! From our time with the children on the teams, seeing their development and even the success they have had in competition!
We approach each year with the attitude that the children "put their best foot forward", believing that if the passion and determination is there, they will be find their reward. We started with 11 children in 2008, went to 17 in 2009 and grew to 28 in 2010 and have since had 35 teams over 10 years. We hope that we will have many more that will be impacted in the coming years!
The season typically runs from September until the regional competition. We usually register in the Halton and the Peel Regional competitions, so that our teams are not all competing on the same day in the same place. Competition is typically on a Saturday and children of course are expected to be in attendance on competition day. The weeks leading up to the competition are filled with learning, researching, creating and team building. It would be a long list if we were to tell you all the skills a child will have an opportunity to learn or improve in an FLL experience!
Our entry teams meet typically less time over the season and the level of output for competition is indicative of the time. The more seasoned veteran teams meet almost 3 times as often and we don't have to have any expectations for them, they all ready have their own! They are determined and dedicated.
E-Bots runs information nights in June for parents and children to come in and see past research projects, meet team members and parents and listen to John (and Pam, when he lets her get a word in edgewise!) talk about the FLL experience and answer questions. This is a great opportunity to really understand what FLL is and what it involves. If you have questions about FLL, you may contact the office.
The prerequisite at E-Bots to be on a team is to have our E-Bots level 3 and FLL prep class complete. We want to see a child who is committed to the experience so they will find growth, satisfaction and reward. While we as coaches are here to support the children and the team, there is very little we can do with a child who is not motivated to a task and who will ultimately be of little support to their team. We have found that observing a child in our FLL prep class gives us some insight into how a child will fit into a team. Therefore we cannot guarantee that any child who completes FLL prep and who applies to be on a team will be accepted. We will happily give you an opinion as your child travels through the E-Bots levels with us, but the ultimate test is when they are in the FLL prep environment. No worries though, they can do FLL from age 9-14 (including the year they turn 15) so while one year might not be optimum, another one might.
We approach each year with the attitude that the children "put their best foot forward", believing that if the passion and determination is there, they will be find their reward. We started with 11 children in 2008, went to 17 in 2009 and grew to 28 in 2010 and have since had 35 teams over 10 years. We hope that we will have many more that will be impacted in the coming years!
The season typically runs from September until the regional competition. We usually register in the Halton and the Peel Regional competitions, so that our teams are not all competing on the same day in the same place. Competition is typically on a Saturday and children of course are expected to be in attendance on competition day. The weeks leading up to the competition are filled with learning, researching, creating and team building. It would be a long list if we were to tell you all the skills a child will have an opportunity to learn or improve in an FLL experience!
Our entry teams meet typically less time over the season and the level of output for competition is indicative of the time. The more seasoned veteran teams meet almost 3 times as often and we don't have to have any expectations for them, they all ready have their own! They are determined and dedicated.
E-Bots runs information nights in June for parents and children to come in and see past research projects, meet team members and parents and listen to John (and Pam, when he lets her get a word in edgewise!) talk about the FLL experience and answer questions. This is a great opportunity to really understand what FLL is and what it involves. If you have questions about FLL, you may contact the office.
The prerequisite at E-Bots to be on a team is to have our E-Bots level 3 and FLL prep class complete. We want to see a child who is committed to the experience so they will find growth, satisfaction and reward. While we as coaches are here to support the children and the team, there is very little we can do with a child who is not motivated to a task and who will ultimately be of little support to their team. We have found that observing a child in our FLL prep class gives us some insight into how a child will fit into a team. Therefore we cannot guarantee that any child who completes FLL prep and who applies to be on a team will be accepted. We will happily give you an opinion as your child travels through the E-Bots levels with us, but the ultimate test is when they are in the FLL prep environment. No worries though, they can do FLL from age 9-14 (including the year they turn 15) so while one year might not be optimum, another one might.