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INSciTE Illinois FLL Scholarship Program
Purpose
To encourage students under-represented in science and technology in
the skills and fun of science and technology, by providing assistance
to access the programs sponsored by INSciTE Illinois.
For
teams to be successful, it is important that persons applying for an
INSciTE Illinois scholarship have an understanding of the FIRST LEGO League program and what is expected of our scholarship coaches.
What is a FIRST LEGO League (FLL) team and what do they do?
If you visited an FLL team meeting you would see 6 - 10 kids, ages 9 - 14,
working with an NXT LEGO Mindstorm Robot kit. A few kids would be
using the 1000+ parts in the kit to construct a LEGO Robot with motors,
sensors (light, touch, ultrasonic-distance and/or sound) and the NXT
brick that acts as the robot's computer. The robot would also have 2 -
4 wheels to help it move around.
Other kids would be at a 4' X 8'
mat on an FLL competition table with season-specific LEGO mission
models. They would be figuring out strategies for the robot's path or
working with LEGO parts to construct attachments for the robot to push,
pull or lift items on the mission models to achieve the task.
Other
team members would be on the internet or looking at books researching
the team's Project. The Project is a 5-minute presentation of the
team's solution to the Project Challenge. If you return another day,
you might see the same groups but the kids would have switched to
working in a different group.
See these links for what is in an FLL NXT competition kit:
When
a team purchases an FLL registration, the above items are bundled and
sold at a discounted cost of $395 (plus S&H). They also receive a
team software license enabling them to put the software on multiple
computers.
See this link for a video explanation of a previous year's robot mission.
See this link for details of last year's Project.
What every FLL team needs:
Provided by the Team!
- A place to practice at least once a week, twice a week is better.
- A computer with XP, Vista or Mac OS X operating system
- Committed Coach(es)!
Provided by the Team and/or by an INSciTE Illinois Scholarship
- FLL National Registration (comes with Coach Handbook and info DVD)
- FLL Competition NXT Robot Set (Can be used again in subsequent years)
- Field Set-up Kit for current season
- An
FLL Competition Table. Your table can even consist of 2" X 4" boards
to form a border around the mat placed on the floor. (Scholarship may
provide funds to buy materials; coach must find a way to build it. This
also can be used again in subsequent years.)
- INSciTE Illinois Tournament Series registration
What is the Coach doing?
The coach is facilitating
the team's progress, helping them work together as a team, helping them
find resources and/or teaching robot building and programming skills,
serving snacks, keeping the team on task, helping them find resources
for the Challenge project. It is up to the kids to solve the
challenge. Just as a math teacher can demonstrate how to solve a
sample problem but cannot do the specific problems on the test, the FLL
coach can demonstrate how to program but cannot program the specific
missions of the challenge. The coach can enlist other adults to help
with these coaching activities but the kids make the decisions and do
the work.
What else does a scholarship team coach do?
A lot! Coaches are the heroes of FIRST LEGO
League! This list of tasks can be divided among several adults
depending on your school, program, organization or club situation. In
a timeline order:
- May - Sept. 1: Apply for the scholarship. The earlier the better! Priority is given to requests received by July 15.
- Make sure you have registered your team with the national organization at gofll.usfirst.org.
Depending on the terms of your scholarship you or INSciTE Illinois will
order your NXT robot kit and field set-up kit at this time.
- Buy materials and build a competition board to suit your needs. Directions can be found here.
NEW! The supports underneath are nice but not necessary. Although not
ideal, your table can even consist of 2" X 4" boards to form a border
and place the mat on the floor. Whatever works for your location.
Overhead lights are optional starting in 2009.
- Arrange for a
meeting place and schedule. Recruit other adults to help you with the
team. It is really nice to have another adult available at times.
- Read your FIRST LEGO League Coach Handbook. It has a lot of good information on how to manage your team and your time!
- Recruit team members; try to include girls and minority students as estimated in the scholarship application.
- Create
a Meeting Plan and make parents/students aware of the ground rules.
Some coaches put this in writing. It's your decision.
- Register for INSciTE Illinois Regional Tournament. Registration opens early August.
- Sept. 3rd - FIRST LEGO League releases the Smart Move Challenge to the WORLD!
- Sept - November
- Conduct
team meetings for at least 90 minutes per week from September until the
Regional Tournament. First Task - Assemble the Mission Models from the
Field Set-up Kit and choose a Team Name.
- New teams usually attempt 2 - 4 missions their first year and complete the Project Presentation.
- November
- Practice the Project in front of other people if possible, practice
doing your robot runs in 2 1/2 minutes, practice answering judge
questions, make up questions from the rubrics in the Coach Handbook.
- December - Attend the Regional Tournament and have a great time!
What is the Regional Tournament like?
Illinois Regional
Tournaments usually have 16 teams participating. The tournament is
divided into 4 Parts. Each Team is assessed in these areas:
- Robot Performance -
making your robot run on the board and complete its programmed missions
in 2 1/2 minute matches. Points are scored for each mission.
- Technical Interview - meet with a friendly panel of judges who ask your team about their robot and its programming.
- Project Interview - make your 5-minute Project Presentation in front of another friendly panel of judges and answer questions about your research.
- Teamwork Interview -
teamwork and Gracious Professionalism are key values of FLL. The team
is asked to do a fun teamwork activity for a panel of judges and answer
questions about their season.
- The Tournament has opening and
closing ceremonies, an opportunity to meet other teams, see other
robots, experience new things. Each child receives a participation
medal and has the opportunity to compete in a friendly, sports-like
tournament with the knowledge that "what is discovered is more
important than what is won."
- Scholarship teams are expected to attend a regional tournament. You are never as ready as you hope to be but it is always worthwhile to attend!
Resources:
- INSciTE Illinois organizes a Yahoo! Group for coaches in Illinois to communicate with each other.
- FIRST LEGO League provides an online forum for coaches.
- FLL Q & A webpage.
- INSciTE Illinois website with information and training resources at insciteillinois.org
- Official FLL Coach information will be sent to your email box by both FIRST and INSciTE Illinois.
- INSciTE
Illinois sponsors 3 training activities: Coach Meeting in September,
Web/Call-in NXT Training from LEGO Education, Call-in Team Organization
Training.
- INSciTE Illinois recruits experienced coaches to
reply to questions from rookie coaches. Make sure you ask for help if
you have questions about building, programming or team issues.
Download the Scholarship ApplicationThis document requires the free Acrobat Reader for viewing. Click Here to download.
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"Example isn't another way to teach, it is the only way to teach."
-Albert Einstein.
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