(For Inspiration & Respect of Science & Technology) FIRST Lego League Jr. (FLL Jr.) is a structured exploration of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts for 6- to 10-year-olds through teamwork, loosely guided creativity, a myriad of online and physical resources, and, of course, Lego elements. Teams tackle a real-world problem and build solutions, including a Show Me poster and programmable robot. The FIRST Core Values: discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, and fun, are central to each meeting and provide a strong foundation for positive experiences for all involved.
My sons love Lego, STEM, STEAM, coding, and problem solving, forming an FLL Jr. team seemed the due course. Once registered, FLL sends you the Inspire Set of Lego bricks focused on this year’s challenge (Mission Moon), a Team Meeting Guide for the coaches, Engineering Notebooks for each team member (6), and the Lego Education WeDo 2.0 Core Set.
The Team Meeting Guide spells out activities for each of 12 sessions and makes the planning process amazingly simple. Alternative paths for fewer sessions and extended build opportunities are provided to add a lot of flexibility within the program.
As a hardcore unschooler, I was rather proud of how our team was able to walk into a well organized classroom setting for Session 1.
Within 20 minutes (an appropriate time frame to call up the anticipation) the team is discussing challenges of living on the moon and building solutions.
Session 2 involved how we would get to the moon and what we would need to take. Instructions for a rocket ship are included and the team works on what essentials it would carry.
Session 3 is when things start to get fun. The team has to design and build storage for all the things they will need on the moon. There are also instructions with the WeDo set to build their first robot capable of pushing or pulling materials from the rocket ship to storage.
Watching them work together and figure out the programming on their own is an absolute joy.
Come back to see what they come up with in Session 4: Water on the Moon!
God bless,
Jason
