FAQ

Power Puzzle 1. What is the LegoLeague?

2. What is the Junior FIRST LegoLeague?

3. What is the Boulder Valley Robotics Education Project?

4. What are the requirements for being involved in the BVREP?

5. Where does the funding come from?

6. How do I start a LegoLeague Team?

7. How much does it cost?

8. How much can BVREP help in getting our team going?

9. What competitions can we take part in?

10. What is the challenge for this year?

11. What are some sources for more Information?

12. How can I change my Team Profile Information?

13. Can we register another team for my school, will BVREP pay for it?

1. What is the FIRST LegoLeague.

FLL is a robotics competition for 9-14 year olds. FLL is a result of an exciting alliance between FIRST Robotics and the LEGO Company. Guided by adult mentors and their own imaginations, FLL students solve real-world engineering challenges, develop important life skills, and learn to make positive contributions to society. (From the FLL Website).

Students use Lego MindStorms systems to build and program robotics devices to solve a different challenge each year. In 2005 over 60,000 children participated in 68 tournaments worldwide.

2. What is the Junior FIRST LegoLeague?

JFLL is geared to children aged 6 to 9 years old and utilizes a modified framework of FIRST LEGO League.  Teams of up to 5 children and an adult mentor receive a mini challenge, which is based on the FLL annual research project.  They will design a model depicting an aspect of this year’s “Power PUzzle ” Challenge.  Children will spend approximately a month exploring, investigating, designing, and building a model made with LEGO bricks on a 15” x 15” base plate.  In conjunction, teams create a “Show Me” poster that depicts the teams’ experience during this process, through drawings and words. (From the JFLL Website).

3. What is the Boulder Valley Robotics Education Project?

BVREP exists to support robotics education in the Boulder Valley School District. We are in the third year of a three year grant from Impact on Education to seed and develop robotics programs in BVSD schools as a way of getting students excited about Math, Science , Engineering and Technology.

Boulder High School fielded the First FIRST Robotics Team in 2003. (FIRST is an acronym for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Since then the program has grown to include four high schools, four middle/K8/Junior High Schools and seven elementary schools It is our ultimate goal to have a self sustaining K-12 Robotics pathway in the school district.

A primary goal of the project is to reach out to under represented groups in the fields mentioned above, specifically girls and students of color.

4. What are the requirements for being involved in the BVREP?

In order to receive resources from BVREP you must agree to:

    Implement a strategy at your school to involve girls and students of color on your teams.

    Elementary and Middle Schools must agree to field a team at the Monarch High School FLL tournament, scheduled for Saturday, November 10th.

    High Schools will field a team at any regional and/or national FIRST competition.

5. Where does the funding come from?

The funding comes from a grant from Impact on Education. Please take every chance you get to mention their generosity to your parents, students and to the community at large.

6. How do I start a LegoLeague Team?

A LegoLeague team consists of 8-10 students and a mentor. The mentor can be a teacher, parent or community member. You'll need:

  • At least one Lego MindStorms Lego kit (2-3 kits is better)
  • Field Elements Kit/playing field

A JFLL team is five students and one mentor/teacher. You need:

Legos

The challenge details will be released on September 5th. You don't have to wait until September to start your team going. Many team start earlier to learn the ins and outs of building and programming the Lego Robots and/or researching the topic.

7. How much does it cost?

    FLL Team Registration: $200/team

    JFLL Team Registration: $75/team

    Field Elements & playing field: $65

    Tournament Registration: $50

    Mindstorms kit: $280

If you have multiple teams at a school, they can share the field elements/playing field and legos.

8. How much can BVREP help in getting our team going?

    We will be able to pay the registration fees for one team from each school

  • Purchase Field Elements & Playing Field
  • Purchase one Mindstorms kit
  • Provide project and curriculum ideas and help you find mentors for your programs.

For second year teams we ask that you approach local local parent group/booster club/etc to meet some of the costs. No team will be denied funding if those sources fall through, but please give it a go. Our goal is to have a self sustaining program when the Impact on Education funds go away in 2008. Building local support for your team is crucial.

9. What competitions can we take part in?

Each Colorado team can attend one qualifying event of which Monarch is one.

The State Tournament will be held at the University of Colorado at Denver in December. Teams that qualify by placing high at a qualifying can move onto this event.

The national World Festival will be held in Atlanta in April

10. What is the challenge for this year?

The specifics will be released in September, however we do know that it will be centered around Energy Resources.

Past challenges have been exploration of the Ocean, Mars, Nano Technology and how robotics can be used to help people with varying physical abilities.

The playing field is an 4' x 8' table with Lego challenges placed strategically on the board. Students must program their robots to leave base ( a designated area on the table), perform one or more tasks and then return to base. They are awarded points on how many of the challenges they can accomplish in a 2.5 minute competition round. During the competition each team with have the opportunity to attempt the challenges 5 times.

Students also have the opportunity to present a research project at the competition to show what they have learned about the topic. We strongly encourage students prepare a research presentation.

11. What are some sources for more information?

12. How can I change my team profile information?

    Log onto http://www.register4fll.com/ Click on Continue at the bottom of the page Fill in your team number and password at the bottom of the page. (David Clark has these) Change the default information found there to match your team

13. Can we register another team for my school, will BVREP pay for it?

Yes you can register another team if you have more interest. BVREP will pay for the team if it meets one of the following criteria:

  • It is an all girls team
  • It is more than 50% Hispanic students

A team is defined as six students or more. This is one of our important program goals; Involving under represented populations on our teams.

Developing strategies and including these students strengthens our teams and insures our funding for another year.