The 2015-16 Season for the Nebraska First Lego League is now underway, with the first tournaments coming in December. Students across Nebraska are ready for another season that captures their imagination to solve real world issues. Nebraska First Lego League is split into two divisions, each with their own annual challenge. For 4th through 8th graders, First Lego League presents the Trash Trek Challenge. For Kindegarden through 3rd graders, Jr. First Lego League presents the Waste Wise Challenge.
Nebraska FIRST Lego League
FIRST LEGO League, also known as FLL, is a challenge designed for 4th through 8th Graders. This season’s challenge is called Trash Trek, which revolves around students finding ways to make less trash or improve the way people handle the trash we make. The season is split into two components: Project and Robot Game.
FLL Project Challenge
Leading up to the Competitions, teams work together to research a topic. This year’s project topic is to find ways to make less trash or improve the way people handle the trash they make. They work to identify an area that where waste and trash are generated. They then design an innovative solution that would improve how to handle the waste they identified. As a team, they will give a five minute in-person presentation. Teams are judged, with the top teams receiving awards.
FLL Robot Game
The Competitions also involve teams designing, building and programming robots with the LEGO Mindstorms platform. The competition field is set on a 4ft by 8ft field, with various challenges and obstacles. A single robot is set on the field with 2:30 minutes to autonomously navigate twelve different missions. Once the robot is finished, the score from all missions is tallied.
More details about Nebraska First Lego League can be found here: http://4h.unl.edu/aboutfirstlegoleague
Nebraska Jr. FIRST LEGO League
Jr. FIRST LEGO League, also known as Jr. FLL, is a challenge designed for Kindegarden through 3rd Graders. This season’s challenge is called Waste Wise, which revolves around students finding ways to make less trash or improve the way people handle the trash we make.
Leading up to the Competitions, teams work together to research a topic. This year’s project topic is to find ways to make less trash or improve the way people handle the trash they make. The students perform five different activities, which include: “Think About It,” “Learn About It,” “Build It,” “Show It,” and “Share It”. Children are given a challenge and complete several tasks to accomplish it, with their experience culminating in sharing all that they have learned with others.
Jr. FLL Activities
- “Think About It” involves students exploring the challenge from different angles
- “Learn About It” involves students researching to discover what exists and what the future holds
- “Build It” involves students by solving a current or future problem and building a prototype machine with at least one moving part from LEGO elements
- “Show It” involves students making a poster explaining what they learned, how they learned it, and explain their LEGO model
- “Share It” involves students participating at an organized event with reviewers and others who ask the children about what they learned and to explain what they built
More details about Nebraska Jr. First Lego League can be found here: http://4h.unl.edu/aboutjrfirstlegoleague
Upcoming Schedule
The first Nebraska First Lego League tournament starts on Saturday, December 5th. In total, there are six State Championship Qualifying tournaments for the Nebraska First Lego League. The State Championship will be held on February 20th at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland, NE.
Date | Location | Group | Description | Cost |
---|---|---|---|---|
December 5, 2015 | North Omaha Boys and Girls Club 2610 Hamilton Street Omaha, NE 68131 |
FLL | Nebraska FLL Qualifying Tournament Registration information |
$60 |
December 12, 2015 | Calvert Recreation Center 4500 Stockwell Street Lincoln, NE 68506 |
FLL | Nebraska FLL Qualifying Tournament Registration information |
$60 |
January 9, 2016 | West Elementary School 2350 Osage Street Sidney, NE 69162 |
FLL | Nebraska FLL Qualifying Tournament Registration information |
$60 |
January 16, 2016 | Nebraska City Middle School 901 1st Corso Nebraska City, NE 68410 |
FLL | Nebraska FLL Qualifying Tournament Registration information |
$60 |
January 23, 2016 | Shell Creek Elementary 16786 280th Street Columbus, NE 68601 |
Fll | Nebraska FLL Qualifying Tournament Registration information |
$60 |
January 30, 2016 | Covington Elementary 2116 A Street South Sioux City, NE 68776 |
FLL | Nebraska FLL Qualifying Tournament Registration information |
$60 |
February 6, 2016 | Lancaster Event Center 4100 N 84th Street Lincoln, NE 68507 |
Jr. FLL | Nebraska Jr. FLL Showcase Registration information |
$40 |
February 20, 2016 | Strategic Air and Space Museum 28210 W Park Hwy Ashland, NE 68003 |
FLL | Nebraska FLL State Championship Tournament Registration information |
$60 |
The full and up-to-date schedule for Nebraska First Lego League can be found at the following page: http://4h.unl.edu/nebraskafirstroboticsschedule