- Description:
Our organization is housed within a Springfield Public Schools site Our program is designed to serve all of the Springfield area (public, private, home schools, etc.). We strive to make this a welcoming program for any student within the Springfield area to join and grow regardless of their ability, experience, and age. Until this past year we ran our Springfield Robotics programs for students in grades 7-12. Over the summer we were awarded a back to school grant that allowed us to start robotics programs for students in grades PK-6 within the Springfield area. We accept anyone interested as team members and work together to apply each person’s unique skills in our organization. As a program we also seek to open the doors for our students to advance in making connections with the wider community beyond the school walls. In the last month we have outgrown our equipment due to the increase number of students interested and participating. We are looking to continue expanding our program if we can, we do not want to turn students away and now we need your help.
- Need Represented: A typical FIRST LEGO League Explore team sizes range from 4-8 students. We currently have enrolled 23 students within our elementary program and we currently only have one kit for all 23 students. We are needing to register more teams as well as purchase more equipment for all of these students to use and learn with. We are still getting emails from parents inquiring about our programs and more students intend to participate in the spring semester.
- Academic Impact: FIRST LEGO League introduces science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to children ages 4-16* through fun, exciting hands-on learning. FIRST LEGO League participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program, helping today’s students and teachers build a better future together. In FIRST LEGO League, students engage in hands-on STEM experiences, building confidence, growing their knowledge and developing habits of learning. FIRST LEGO League’s three divisions inspire youth to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding and design skills through hands-on STEM learning and robotics.
FIRST LEGO League Discover - PreK- Grade 1:
For children ages 4-6, this playful introductory STEM program ignites their natural curiosity and builds their habits of learning with hands-on activities in the classroom and at home using LEGO® Duplo bricks.
FIRST LEGO League Explore - Grades 2-4:
In Explore, teams of students ages 6-10 focus on the fundamentals of engineering as they explore real-world problems, learn to design and code and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by LEGO Education robot.
FIRST LEGO League Challenge - Grades 4-8:
Friendly competition is at the heart of Challenge, as teams of students ages 9-16* engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering – building and programming a LEGO robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem. - Student Population: Currently we have students from many different schools around the area and we see this continuing. Many of our new students are coming to us from WINGS and after telling their friends and parents we are seeing an increase in students. Currently we have 23 students in grades PK-6 from McBride, Field, Disney, Jefferies, Rountree, and a few private and home school programs.
