FIRST LEGO League Robotics

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FIRST LEGO League Robotics

• Engineering our Future

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2007-2008 FLL Outreach Goals

• History From 2001-2003 a local non-profit
  
• organization held a FLL regional tournament
  in
• Chicago in partnership with Chicago Public
• Schools. When funding and support for this
• regional ended, most Chicago Public
  elementary
• schools stopped participating in FLL
  competitions.
• Our Goal To revive the level of interest and
• participation in FLL within Chicago Public
• Schools.

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2007-2008 FLLOutreach Strategies

• Phase I - Our 2007-2008 FLL school based
  recruitment drive started at the top
• Market FLL to administrators (principals,
  district
• administrators)
• Get their commitment
• Allow them to identify coaches/volunteers
• Have them select or identify students for the
  team
• Phase II -Once coach(es) identified by
  administrators we began
• Training on the fundamentals and core values
  of FLL
• Explaining the role and responsibilities of a
  coach
• Covering rules of the Challenge
• Training on constructing robots and using
  Mindstorms
• software

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2007-2008 FLLSchool, Parent, Community
Involvement

• Phase III Create by-in with FIRST LEGO League
  Kick-offs
• Asked each school to hold a kick-off event for
  their FLL
• program by inviting parents, local community
  members,
• potential business sponsors, and the media.
• Explained FLL and the importance of parental
  involvement.
• Assigned interested adults to various roles to
  support the team.
• Sourced parents, community members, and
  businesses for
• technical volunteers (engineers, programmers,
  and others) who
• could assist with designing and programming
  the robots.

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2007-2008 FLLMentoring

• Phase IV Weekly mentoring support
• Scheduled weekly mentoring visits at each
  school to assist
• teams in all phases of the Challenge
• Provided support to coaches in assisting
  students to problem
• solve and find solutions to programming
  challenges, robot
• design and functionality, and basic research
  skills.
• Phase V Volunteers and other mentors
• Created the High School Robotics Mentoring
  Program
• Pooled resources from our university
  partnerships to recruit
• faculty and student volunteers from
  engineering, science, math
• and pre-service teacher programs.

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2007- 2008 Regional Expansion/ Growth
Current Teams

• Chicago Public Schools (4)
• Chicago Archdiocese (1)
• North Chicago School District (1)

New Teams 2008-2009

• Chicago Public Schools (10)
• Museum of Science Industry (2)
• NASA SEMAA Chicago (1)
• North Chicago School District (2)
• Homewood/Flossmoor School District (1)
• Community Organizations (3)

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2007-2008 FLL Accomplishments

• Secured one national (FIRST) and three local
• (Motorola) scholarships to assist teams with
  
• purchase of LEGO Mindstorms kits and
  registration
• Surpassed original goal of two teams by adding
  three
• additional teams resulting in five rookie
  team
• registrations
• Secured 10,000 program donation from Discover
• Financial Services to support FLL and related
  
• activities
• Integrated NASA educational content in robotics
  
• utilizing the AEL and during team practice
  sessions
• to support all phases of the FLL Challenge

• Turbo Robo a unique team building workshop that
• Increased teams technical knowledge and skills
• Provided training for coaches and parents
• Demonstrated the importance of teamwork
• Supported peer-to-peer learning

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2007-2008 FLL Highlights
Team 6406 the St. Ethelreda Eagle
Explosion qualifed to compete in the Illinois
State Tournament. The entire Blue Eagle Science
club and parents came out on a zero degree day to
cheer on the team and support their
children. Setting goals and working on a
timeline helped this team successfully extend
their season and participate with 63 of the
best FLL teams in the state.
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Plan FLL Kick-Off Events
Eagle Explosion, Team 6406 from St. Ethelreda
School kicked off their rookie season by having a
whole school FIRST LEGO League assembly followed
by an outdoor balloon launch. Parents,
community members, local political officials, and
the media were invited to share in the
excitement.
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Develop Sponsorships Corporate Support
A partnership established between NASA SEMAA
Chicago and Discover Financial Services benefits
our FIRST LEGO League efforts in North Chicago,
Illinois at Neal Elementary School, sponsorship
of our annual teambuilding event, Turbo Robo and
hosting rookie resource and help sessions from
other FLL teams in the region.
The entire SWAT Team from Arlington Heights, IL
made a special visit to Pershing West to provide
an afternoon of technical assistance,
research presenation advice, and general tips
with two of our FLL teams.
SWAT team members give Pershing West Pumas a
short course in LEGO Mindstorms programming.
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See The Future.Then Choose a Way to Shape It
High School Robotics Mentoring Initiative
Understanding the importance of building
STEM Skills in young adults as well as providing
an opportunity to give back, our NASA
program created a unique opportunity for high
school students to become involved in FIRST
robotics by mentoring FIRST LEGO League teams.
High school students were recruited from
our home base school, Marine Military Academy and
other Chicago Public high schools, Bronzeville
Military Academy, and King College Prep, to
mentor and provide tutoring in math to our five
FLL teams. High School students receive service
learning hours for their participation in the
program and travel to local and national FIRST
Robotics events.
Marine Military Academy HS Robotics Mentors Work
with students from Kellman and Pershing West
schools
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Leverage existing partnerships The Museum
of Science and Industry is one of our partner
institutions. In October, our program
participated in their annual Fall Fling and
displayed and discussed FIRST LEGO League
Robotics as part of our NASA program. We
approached the programming staff in November with
the idea of establishing a FLL team at the museum
and providing demonstrations of the FLL challenge
for museum visitors. Our proposal was accepted
and we provide ongoing LEGO Mindstorms training
on Saturdays for the Science Minors, a trained
cadre of high school students that conduct
experiments and demonstrations throughout the
museum, to run missions and market FLL. In
spring 2008 we will have open LEGO Mindstorms
workshops on Saturdays for the public that will
also include information on FIRST LEGO
League. FIRST LEGO League teams will work and
assist students in the Mars Robotics Rover
workshop as part of NASA SEMAAs Astro Jam event
to be held at the museum in April.
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Create Cool Events 2007 Turbo Robo 3,2,1.LEGO!
Imagine..8 FLL teams 4 hours non-stop,
inter-team LEGO Mindstorms building, programming,
and table runs gracious professionalism at its
best!
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Incorporate Technology The NASA AEL

• FLL teams have access to the NASA
  Aerospace Education Laboratory (AEL) a
  state-of-the-art, electronically enhanced,
  computerized classroom that puts cutting-edge
  technology at the fingertips of middle and high
  school aged students.
• Students work in the AEL to design,
  build and program LEGO Mindstorm robots for FLL
  competitions and simulated NASA missions to the
  Moon, Mars and beyond.

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Create New Opportunities NASA SEMAA
Chicago has provided science programming in the
Chicago Park Districts summer day camp program
since 2005. In the summer of 2008, our STEM in
the Parks Program will expand to five parks
directly impacting 150 4th -8th graders and
exposing over 3,000 youngsters to FIRST LEGO
League robotics over a three week period.
Campers will build and program LEGO Mindstorms
NXT robots to accomplish missions from the
2007-2008 Power Puzzle Challenge. We will end
our camp with an inter-park non-qualifying event
to be held at the end of July. The STEM in the
Parks program will also be implemented in the
North Chicago Park District in the summer of
2008.
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Involve Families The Family Café
"We believe that children, parents/families, and
teachers are partners in the educational process,
and must be respected and appreciated for their
individual needs and roles. Parents, family
members and community stakeholders are encouraged
to volunteer during FLL team practices and
support sessions by providing expertise, tutoring
and other STEM and literacy support skills. They
are also encouraged to volunteer at regional
events as needed and assist teams with
fundraising efforts.
Parents of FLL team members assist with
programming during a FLL Family Café Session
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FLL Expansion Tips for Outreach Success

• Eliminate the Fear Factor
• Become a resource
• Clarify your level of participation/support
• Keep expectations on both sides within reasonable
  limits
• Work smarter not harder
• Be able to assess/identify challenges that exist
  or may arise with potential teams

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Tailor Benefits you can offer to New Teams

• NASA AEL Mentored FLL Teams Benefits
• Robotics curriculum designed to meet skill
  levels
• and unique needs of students to ensure
  success
• Participate in FIRST LEGO League workshops,
  summer camps, and non-
• qualifying events with our veteran FLL teams
• Project based learning aligned with National and
  Illinois State
• science, mathematics Learning Standards
• Connect with NASA Robotics Alliance Web
  resources
• Incorporate NASA educational content and
  robotics missions
• Link teams to FLL Website and encourage
  participation in forum discussions

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Use FLL to Increase Science Literacy and Add
Value to Your Community

• FLL team members learn science by doing
• Partner with institutions of higher
  education,
• science centers, and museums to extend
  value of FLL
• Bridge the participation gap for
  historically underserved
• and underrepresented K-12 youth in FIRST
  LEGO League
• Include community stakeholders
• Establish ownership of team and instill FLL
  core values
• with students and families
• Increase STEM (science, technology,
  engineering and
• mathematics) literacy in K-12 students.
  Studies show
• students who participate in programs such
  as FLL score
• higher on standardized tests.

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FIRST LEGO League Let your dreams take flight!