Compass hosts a Division 2 FIRST LEGO League (FLL) robotics team, for students in 5th-7th grade (min. age 11 by September 30). Students will learn 21st century skills in robotics and programming while enjoying the camaraderie of working as a team to solve challenges. Students will gain confidence and build skills in leadership and communication as they showcase their team project at local and regional FLL competitions.
About
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) is an accessible, guided, beginners’ robotics competition that encourages teamwork, discovery, innovation, and problem-solving. The FLL competition is comprised of three components: the Robot Game, an Innovation Project, and Core Values. The Robot Game is an annual theme-based challenge that encourages kids to think of technology solutions to real-world problems. Teams design and program an autonomous robot that scores points on a themed table-top playing field. Past challenges have been inspired by environment, transportation, accessibility, and exploration. FLL team members engage in brainstorming, research, design, and coding while practicing the engineering design process of building, testing, re-building, re-testing, etc. Students will work with LEGO Education Spike Prime robotics components and use drag-and-drop coding blocks to program their robots on laptop computers.
FLL members have fun with friends, encourage and support each other, and learn the art of gracious competition. In addition to the robot challenge, FLL team members compete in short, on-the-spot challenge problems in the Innovation Project phase of the competitions. FLL is also known for its philosophies of “gracious professionalism” and “cooperation” which are expressed in the organization’s Core Values of discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, and fun. Teams are also judged on how well they promote and exhibit these core values.
Membership
The FLL team will be comprised of a minimum of four (4), maximum of eight (8) students. If more than eight students express interest in the Compass team, a waiting list will be maintained. An additional team(s) will only be considered if parents are willing to coach.
Eligibility
Compass FLL members must be homeschooled students in 5th-7th grade* (Grade* is defined by student’s age-based enrollment if he/she were in traditional school without acceleration, grade skipping, or delayed entry.) Members must be minimum age 11 by September 30 of the school year.
Experience
Team members must have taken at lease one class such as Robot Fab Lab, Build It Better, Experiments in Engineering, or LEGO Robotics Training Team or have similar robotics experience.
Meeting Schedule
The team will meet at Compass on Mondays from 3:00 pm- 4:30 pm during the winter and spring for Pre-Season work. Additional team meetings or extended hours may be needed in the fall to prepare for the fall competition. The Compass team will participate in a DC/VA regional competition in mid-October through early November (competition dates are assigned by lottery). The team may advance to a later state-level competition.
Commitment/Parent Involvement
The Compass FLL team will be coached by Compass science teacher and homeschool parent, Sandy Preaux. The team will an additional parent(s) to serve as the second mentor. Teen volunteers (age 15+) who have experience with FLL will be welcomed as assistant coaches (whose effort can count toward volunteer hours.) Any additional FLL teams would also need all volunteer mentor and coach roles filled before getting started.
Costs
The cost of participation is the winter/spring Pre-Season is $0 for Compass students and $100 for non-Compass students (facility/equipment fee). There will be additional team dues in the fall to pay for the current year’s challenge kit, team registration, regional competition fees, team t-shirts, and presentation materials (estimated at $100-$200). If the team decides to participate in additional competitions or advances to the regional competition, participating families will incur additional registration fees.
