PRESS ROOM & NEWS

FIRST® and LEGO® Education Challenge Students from more than 110 countries to Reimagine the Future of Sustainable Energy During the FIRST® LEGO® League SUPERPOWEREDSM Season

 

MANCHESTER, N.H., August 2, 2022 – FIRST®, a robotics community that prepares young people for the future, and LEGO® Education announced that the 2022-2023 FIRST® LEGO® League season, SUPERPOWEREDSM for students in grades PreK-8) will inspire students to explore where energy comes from and how it is distributed, stored, and used – and then put their superpowered creativity to work to innovate for a better energy future.

For the FIRST LEGO League SUPERPOWERED season, FIRST collaborated with experts in the fields of energy and sustainability. These experts, who made up the Challenge Advisory Team, helped create a theme and challenge missions that reflect what it takes to improve the energy journey.

“FIRST LEGO League is all about empowering kids, even as young as four, to solve problems, build confidence and change the world,” said Chris Moore, CEO, FIRST. “We are excited to welcome even more students from more school districts around the world to FIRST this season, and we are proud to enable educators to use FIRST as a dynamic tool to inspire student-led, hands-on learning in STEM competencies.”

This season, FIRST LEGO League events may be offered in traditional, remote, or hybrid formats and will be determined by local Program Delivery Partners.

Team registration for all FIRST LEGO League divisions is now open.

  • FIRST® LEGO® League Discover students (grades PreK-1) are tasked with building a wind turbine and kitchen from LEGO® DUPLO® bricks and creating a team model showing their own energy story and ways energy is captured, stored, distributed, and consumed.
     
  • FIRST® LEGO® League Explore students (grades 2-4) will learn to build and code with LEGO® Education SPIKETM Essential or LEGO® Education WeDo 2.0 to power a model of a wind turbine, energy storage model, and carousel. They will also create a team model based on their own energy journey. During the process they will explore, create, test, and share their ideas.
     
  • FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge students (grades 4-8) will develop new, innovative ways to rethink and improve how energy is generated and used. Participants will build and code their LEGO® Education SPIKETM Prime or LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 to perform energy-themed missions in the SUPERPOWERED Robot Game. The missions reflect potential thought-starters for their self-directed Innovation Project where students will identify a problem related to how energy is generated, stored, distributed, and consumed; research the problem; and design a new piece of technology or improve an existing one to help them solve that problem.

“STEAM learning becomes even more meaningful when students connect with the world around them and explore real-world topics like sustainable energy with this year’s SUPERPOWERED season,” said Camilla Bottke, Head of Competitions, LEGO Education. “It’s exciting to see how their curiosity, problem-solving, and teamwork will come to life this season, especially with the addition of LEGO Education SPIKE Essential for FIRST LEGO League Explore.”

FIRST LEGO League SUPERPOWERED is part of the 2022-2023 FIRST® ENERGIZESM season, presented by Qualcomm Incorporated. FIRST LEGO League Global Program Sponsors are LEGO Education and The LEGO Foundation. FIRST LEGO League Challenge Division Sponsors are John Deere and Rockwell Automation.

FIRST LEGO League is available as an individual team or Class Pack depending on the number of students participating in the program. FIRST Class Packs can be implemented in classrooms or structured after-school programs and provide educators and communities with flexible, high-quality STEM learning experiences for students using evidence-based practices. Each Class Pack registration includes support guides, teaching slides, exclusive division sets, and access to digital materials through the FIRST Thinkscape Portal.

 

About FIRST

FIRST® is a robotics community that prepares young people for the future through a suite of inclusive, team-based robotics programs for ages 4-18 (PreK-12) that can be facilitated in school or in structured afterschool programs. Boosted by a global support system of volunteers, educators, and sponsors that include over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies, teams operate under a signature set of FIRST Core Values to conduct research, fundraise, design, build, and showcase their achievements during annual challenges. An international not-for-profit organization founded by accomplished inventor Dean Kamen in 1989, FIRST has a proven impact on STEM learning, interest, and skill-building well beyond high school. Participants and alumni of FIRST programs gain access to education and career discovery opportunities, connections to exclusive scholarships and employers, and a place in the FIRST community for life. Learn more at firstinspires.org.

All FIRST LEGO League divisions are guided by the FIRST Core Values that celebrate discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, and fun. Coaches receive Team Meeting Guides to help facilitate the program and students receive Engineering Notebooks to document their experiences.