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First Lego League Challenges Kids To Find Techie Solutions To Waste

kids building robots

kids building robots

Want to get kids interested in science and technology? Show them the cool things you can do with that math and engineering and problem-solving… like building robots! Β Yeah, most kids are going to find building robots cool, and the First Lego League challenges them to do that in response to a particular challenge. This coming school year, the focus is waste: participating teams will start the Trash Trek in late August. One team has already gotten a start on learning about our waste system – take a look at what San Diego’s Eco-Derz is doing in preparation for the year-long challenge:

Pretty cool, huh? The idea here is to get kids interested in science and technology, and to get them hacking solutions to big problems using Lego Mindstorms robotics kits. Throughout the year, the teams code and hack and test their solutions, and than compete in tournaments and championships leading up to World Festival (which takes place next year right here in St. Louis). The focus, of course, isn’t so much on the competition as the learning – kids, and their coaches/mentors, all think hard about how they might apply technology to the problem in question, and then figure out how to make their solutions a reality.

Very cool – I’d have loved something like this as a kid! If you’re kids are involved in First Lego League, or if you’re a coach/mentor for a team, tell us more about what you’re team is doing (without revealing any trade secrets, of course).

Photo credit: CHEN WS / Shutterstock.com

One comment
  1. allpurposeguru

    Young people are accomplishing astounding feats these days. I’m thinking especially of the self-educated boy from Malawi who designed and built a wind turbine and four Nigerian school girls who devised a way of making electricity using urine. Bravo to Lego for inspiring legions of young people to think about solutions to our waste problems. I’m looking forward to their TED talks.

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