Page 8 - File Name

Learning with Lego
Using the building blocks for creativity and collaboration
FIS WarriorBots at FIRST LEGO League competitions in Dresden (above) and Kronberg (opposite page)
At FIS, teams of student Lego builders – the “FIS WarriorBots” – are starting to make a name for themselves at FIRST LEGO League (FLL) competitions. This year, under the theme of
“Superpowered,” our WarriorBots participated in Explore and competed in the Challenge division, representing FIS at both the Regional and DACH (Germany, Austria, and Switzerland) Finals.
Initiated in 1998 by the American foundation FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) and the LEGO company, FIRST LEGO League’s goal is introducing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through exciting hands-on learning. FLL encourages critical thinking, problem-solving and teamwork, challenging students to work together to design, build and program robots, which requires them to collaborate, communicate and delegate tasks effectively.
FLL also promotes creativity and innovation. Students are given a specific challenge they must solve using their robots. This encourages them to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to complex problems. Additionally, they are encouraged to develop new ideas and inventions that can be used to solve real-world problems.
In the Explore level, teams of students (Grades 2–4) focus on the fundamentals of engineering as
they look at real-world problems, learn to design and code, and create unique solutions made with LEGO bricks and powered by a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime robot. Our teams had a great time presenting at the regional event in Kronberg and improved their designs after being invited to the DACH Finals held in Dresden. For their efforts, they took home the awards of “Incredible Movement” and “Outstanding Research + Innovation.” It was a great experience for our WarriorBots who impressed the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of FIRST, Chris Rake, with their incredible builds and depth of knowledge on sustainability, energy production and the impact of our choices on the planet. Our WarriorBots represented so well in DACH that they were invited to Houston to participate in the World Championships. Although the team could not make the event, it is a great accomplishment and we hope to showcase FIS at a world competition in the future.
Friendly competition is at the heart of the FIRST LEGO League’s next level, Challenge, where teams of students in Grades 5–9 engage in research, problem-solving, coding and engineering to build and program a LEGO robot that navigates multiple missions of a robot game. As part of Challenge, teams participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem and present to a group of judges about their findings. On the day, each team also has to present
6 FIS World June 2023