So, you’re thinking about starting a FIRST LEGO League team? Below are a few questions and answers which might be of help. Please contact us at info@westaaustin.org to learn more about FLL and other programs we support and learn how you can get involved!
Why FLL?
What does an FLL team actually do?
· The robot game
· The research project
How do I form a team?
· What’s the age range for FLL? (And also, what’s the best age range for a team?)
· Can boys and girls be on the same team?
· What about siblings?
What about team meetings?
· How often should we meet?
· Where should we meet?
Who’s going to run our team?
· Coaches
· Mentors
· Other parents
What’s this going to cost?
· Money, Money, Money
· Time is money!
Is this really worth it?
Why FLL?
Hey, I get it. There are a lot of activities you could get your kids involved in, everything from scouting, to sports, to theater and dance. And balancing academics and social commitments can be challenging. So what makes FLL worthwhile?
FLL is a team challenge that increases children’s interest in
STEM, gets them invested in their education, and teaches them 21st
Century work skills. Sounds too good to be true?
Check out this fabulous infographic from FIRST:
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. In 2016-2017, there were more than 460,000 students involved in FIRST worldwide!
FIRST has create some great videos to pique your interest. Here are some of my favorites:
Where does FLL fit?
FLL is part of a continuum of programs for students age six to eighteen. FLL is for 4th through 8th graders. After FLL, students may choose to participate in FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) and/or FRC (FIRST Robotics Challenge). FTC is for students in the 7thth to 12th grades. FRC is for students in 9th to 12th grades. Westlake High School’s robotic team, sponsored by WESTA, includes both award-winning FTC teams, a new JV FRC team and an award-winning Varsity FRC team.
So if your kids loves FLL, there are more great programs to come!
What if my kid doesn’t like robots or LEGOs?
Hey, as hard as it is for me to believe, there are kids who just don’t like LEGOs or don’t have much building experience. That’s okay! There are lots of opportunities to learn how to build. Even better, building the robot is only one chunk of FLL. If your kid likes programing, the robot in FLL is entirely autonomous. That means it needs programing. If your kid likes science or critical thinking, the research project is just as important as the robot. If your kids likes acting or writing, that research needs to be delivered in a compelling format to as many people as possible. What if your kid just likes working with others on a team? Well, that’s what FIRST’s Core Values are all about.
Basically, an FLL team needs lots of people developing lots of great skills!
What does an FLL team actually do?
FLL teams are scored on three (equally weighted) components.
They are:
The Robot Game
Students build and program a robot made out of LEGOs (typically using LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kits). The robot scores points by completing a set of tasks on a field (also made of LEGOs). The Robot Game portion of FLL is comprised of the actual points the robot scores during matches and a Technical Presentation, during which the kids show off their robot to a panel of judges. Each year the game is centered around a theme. The theme for the Robot Game is also the theme for …
The Research Project
Students identify a problem related to the research project theme. After researching the problem, the team creates an innovative solution to the problem. The solution maybe a completely new idea or an improvement on an existing idea. Then, the team shares their innovative solution with many others. Finally, they present their research, solution, and sharing to the judges on the day of competition.
Core Values
Core Values is at the heart of FIRST. Basically, Core Values is how you treat your team mates, your coaches, and your competitors. Core Values means the kids do the work! It means they treat each other with gracious professionalism. It means we all learn together.
How do I form a team?
What’s the age range for FLL? (And also, what’s the best age range for a team?)
FLL is for students grades four through eight. Teams members do not have to all be the same age. There are many teams with kids who span the age range. Just be aware that if there is a huge range in age, you may have to work harder to balance the work load (i.e. you don’t want the older kids doing all the work and the younger kids not having the opportunity to learn.) You want kids of a similar maturity and interest.
Can boys and girls be on the same team?
Absolutely! Personally, I have one all-girls team that I coach and one team that’s half boys and half girls. Both work well. There are advantages to both.
What about siblings?
There are teams with siblings on them and there are families with kids on more than one team. So this depends entirely on the dynamic within your family and the team.
What about team meetings?
How often should we meet?
The challenge is announced at the end of August. The game season generally lasts from late August to mid-February. During that time, most teams meet once or twice a week for one to two hours at a time. It’s not uncommon to have extra meetings as competitions approaches. My team often has longer meetings on school holidays
Where should we meet?
The main consideration here is space. The field for the robot game is four feet by eight feet. The official instructions suggestion a 4×8 piece of plywood and 2×4’s. It’s heavy. It’s not something you’ll be moving often. There are places on line you can find more portable versions. Either way, you’ll want enough space for the robot field on the days when you’re practicing the robot game.
Who’s going to run our team?
Coaches
FIRST requires two coaches to register with FIRST. At the barest minimum, they will need to pass a background check, organize meetings and handle paperwork. Generally speaking, Coaches help teams set goals, manage research, and run meetings.
Mentors
Mentors help with the more technical aspects, ie. building, programing etc.
Now wait! Do we really need Coaches and Mentors?
No, not really. In many teams coaches and mentors serve the same purpose. But, if you want to coach and have no technical expertise, you can always find mentors who can help. The high school FRC team might be able to provide a mentor.
Other Parents
It’s not a bad idea to recruit other parents to help out. First off, the more involved they are, the more they’ll appreciate the hard work their kids are doing. Secondly, it’s just nice to have people to bring by meals on the day of tournament or drive kids around. Some teams have parent leads for the robot game, the research project, and core values. Long story short, ask your other parents for help. They will give it.
What’s this going to cost?
Money, Money, Money
FIRST estimates that the cost of running a team for the initial season is about $900, plus costs for travel, snacks, t-shirts, etc. Roughly half of that is team registration and fees, and the other half is to purchase the robot.
Information about how to register your team can be found here:
Buy link for the educational EV3 Core set is here:
And for the (optional) addition Expansion set:
For your first season, your team really only needs one robot. Having said that, it’s not uncommon (in Eanes) for teams to buy more than one or for teams to want each family to buy one.
The first year Club Oreo competed, we had just one robot. Last year, we had a couple families decide on their own to buy robots, build an identical robot and have it at home to practice on, etc. These things are fun to play around with and the more time your kid spends just playing with it, the more confident and comfortable he or she will be. But it’s a matter of preference, not necessity.
Also, WESTA (the non-profit organization that supports Westlake Robotics) has budgeted money this year to start new FLL teams within the district. They will be paying registration and for field set up kits (total $300) for up to 15 teams. So that will help some with the initial start up costs!
Time is money!
Okay, so that’s how much it costs. But how much does it cost in time?
This is hard for me to answer, not because it’s so much time, but because it’s just hard to estimate. As a coach, obviously, I’m present for the actual meeting times. But there is definitely time outside of coaching that I spend writing emails, organizing material, and thinking about things. While I don’t ever “do the research” for them, I sometimes find interesting articles on their topic and hand them off to particular girls on the team. (I think of myself as a curator of information for them.) And we spend time as a family discussing the topic while we’re driving or eating.
Is this time that it takes away from other things? Yes, probably. But I also feel it’s time well-spent. Is it work for me as the coach, yes, but it’s certainly no more work than the other things I’m involved with for my kids (like scouting).
And remember, the kids do the work! So if you (as a coach) are up late at night programing a robot alone, you’re doing it wrong!
Is this really worth it?
Two years ago,
when I attended my first training for FLL, they started the session by warning
that some people get involved with FLL and get sucked into for life. All of the
attendees laughed. But now, I totally see what they meant.
FLL sucks people in. Not because it’s all-consuming, but because it’s so good.
It’s a well-designed program that gets your kids thinking about the world we
live in, the problems we face, and how we can work together to solve those
problems. It’s challenging and compelling. It’s all the passion people bring to
sports, but it’s for the brain and the soul.
As a coach and a parent, I’ve seen the kids in Club Oreo grow so much. I’ve personally seen kids learn:
- How to think critically about a problem
- How to introduce themselves to a stranger, talk about FLL and their team, and share their “product”
- How to encourage and support their teammates
- How to fail, miserably, and then get back up and keep trying
These are hard lessons I could not have taught my daughter on my own. Is it a lot of work, for all of us, yes, it is. But it’s definitely worth it. And I look forward to welcoming you to the Eanes FLL family.