Nebraska First Lego League 2015-16 Season to Start

Nebraska First Lego LeagueThe 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

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