LEGO has announced two new sets built for STEAM Learning. STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics, and is an academic approach for getting kids enthusiastically involved in education. The LEGO system will include SPIKE Prime, which is the new hands-on learning kits and a new Inspire set released by LEGO Education, along with two additional sets, Boomtown Build and City Shaper.
The Inspire sets are both architecture-themed (though they have no relation to the popular Architecture LEGO theme), and they will be available for the 2019-2020 FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Jr. seasons.
FIRST LEGO League Jr. teams use the Boomtown Build Inspire Set to build the crane model that will challenge them to build a city to accommodate all different types of people.
FIRST LEGO League teams will use the City Shaper challenge set to build and code an autonomous LEGO Education Mindstorms or SPIKE Prime to complete a series of architecture-themed missions on the competition mat/playing field.
Real cities face big issues like transportation, accessibility, and natural disasters. Therefore, the missions are real-world issues that architects and engineers face, like inspecting a building for cracks or engineering weaknesses, and building an inclusive city for people with different types of needs.
Press Release:
Today at the FIRST® Championship, LEGO® Education and FIRST unveiled two new, exclusive LEGO sets created specifically for the 2019-2020 FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. and FIRST® LEGO® League season. LEGO Education also announced today that its newly released LEGO Education SPIKE™ Prime with the new SPIKE™ Prime Competition Expansion Set can be used along with LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 in FIRST LEGO League. LEGO Education SPIKE Prime and the SPIKE Prime Expansion Set can be pre-ordered today in the U.S. and will be available around the world in August 2019.
What is FIRST?
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) was founded in 1989 to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology. Based in Manchester, NH, the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge, and life skills.
FIRST is More Than Robots. FIRST participation is proven to encourage students to pursue education and careers in STEM-related fields, inspire them to become leaders and innovators, and enhance their 21st century work-life skills.
What is FIRST LEGO League?
Designed for ages 9-16* and guided by adult Coaches, FIRST LEGO League teams research a real-world problem that is centered around a STEAM theme and are challenged to develop a solution. Each year there is a new theme. Past themes included “Animal Allies” discovering the way humans and animals interact, “Hydro Dynamics” looking at how we use and dispose water and “Into Orbit” exploring how to navigate the challenges of space exploration.
Teams also must design, build and program an autonomous (no remote control) robot/STEM creation using LEGO MINDSTORMS® and starting in 2019-2020 season, LEGO Education® SPIKE™ Prime technology, that can perform theme-based “mission” tasks on a table-top playing field. The missions require the robot/creation to navigate, capture, transport, or deliver objects. The more missions completed, the more points teams earn.
Teams of up-to 10 members, use an exclusive LEGO Education Challenge Set, which is a LEGO set built around each year’s theme – the Challenge set includes the competition mat.
Participants develop critical thinking and team-building skills, basic STEAM applications, and presentation skills, as they must present their solutions to judges.
FIRST Founder Dean Kamen and the owner of the LEGO Group Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen joined forces to create FIRST LEGO League in 1998.
What is FIRST LEGO League Jr?
Designed for ages 6-10 and guided by adult Coaches, FIRST LEGO League Jr. teams research the same real-world problem and theme as FIRST LEGO League. However, the teams conduct smaller projects and are designed to be research based and non-competitive.
Each team of up to six children explore the real-world STEAM theme provided for the season with an exclusive LEGO® Education Inspire Set. Using this set as a starting point, they design a new model of their own with LEGO elements. They also use LEGO Education WeDo2.0 and using basic engineering and programming skills make their model move. Teams document their work in an Engineering Notebook and present their journey through a poster all about their team and what they learned, called a Show Me Poster.
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