This August our First Lego League youth will be working on some of the same issues Next Generation Extension is exploring….they want to know how people need and want to learn.

For those of you new to First Lego League, here’s a big update….we aren’t just playing with legos!  Actually the entire program is more closely aligned with the principles of Challenge Based Learning (see Susan’s post from a few days ago).  100’s of hours go into coaching teams each year.  The teams themselves research the topic and develop an innovative solution to a problem related to that topic.  My teams frequently videoconference with campus faculty who can provide them insight into their solution and help them redesign their innovations into fully functional ideas.  BTW, frequently we can cultivate this connection into a collaboration with campus faculty that continues through the entire year via email, videoconferencing, etc. Oh, yeah, and there also is the robot challenge.  It’s loud, it’s fun, and it’s hours of research, engineering, and programming that goes into the whole process.

I’m really looking forward to this challenge, because it’s refreshing to see what we do from another persons perspective.  I can hardly wait for August when the challenge begins!