The Programme
FIRST® LEGO® League shows young people what it means to be an engineer and work with STEM skills and subjects, but focuses on practical, hand-on learning, so they are doing, not watching. FIRST® LEGO® League Discover is designed for 4-6 year-olds and develops children’s STEM skills from an early age. Delivered in school by the class teacher, children work in groups of four to explore a real-world theme with an exclusive LEGO® Discover model. Using this model as a starting point, they design and build new models of their own with LEGO® STEAM Park bricks. Working through a series of tasks and challenges, the programme finishes with a celebration event to recognise the children’s achievements.
As they work, they develop valuable habits of learning, such as persisting with tasks and applying previous knowledge to new situations. Throughout their experience, teams operate under the FIRST® LEGO® League core values, celebrating discovery and teamwork, all while having fun! Skills are also developed at home with the Discover More set: a take-home resource consisting of two sets of DUPLO® Six Bricks to continue learning at home with parents and carers.
Children get the chance to showcase their learning journey at the end of the programme with a Celebration Event, which involves building, a special challenge and talking about what they have learnt with parents and other adults. Their hard work and perseverance are celebrated with a certificate and lots of high fives!
What you can do
Teachers are fully supported with comprehensive resources available to download on the IET Teacher Resources webpage, including image banks to use within sessions, session and training videos, and curriculum grids.
You can sign up here, and if you're in a location with funding, complete the 30 Day Challenge to get grant funding to cover all the costs associated with delivering the programme in your school. The team at Learnit (Ireland) or the IET (UK) will support you through the process.
The Programme
FIRST® LEGO® League shows young people what it means to be an engineer and work with STEM skills and subjects, but focuses on practical, hand-on learning, so they are doing, not watching. FIRST® LEGO® League Discover is designed for 4-6 year-olds and develops children’s STEM skills from an early age. Delivered in school by the class teacher, children work in groups of four to explore a real-world theme with an exclusive LEGO® Discover model. Using this model as a starting point, they design and build new models of their own with LEGO® STEAM Park bricks. Working through a series of tasks and challenges, the programme finishes with a celebration event to recognise the children’s achievements.
As they work, they develop valuable habits of learning, such as persisting with tasks and applying previous knowledge to new situations. Throughout their experience, teams operate under the FIRST® LEGO® League core values, celebrating discovery and teamwork, all while having fun! Skills are also developed at home with the Discover More set: a take-home resource consisting of two sets of DUPLO® Six Bricks to continue learning at home with parents and carers.
Children get the chance to showcase their learning journey at the end of the programme with a Celebration Event, which involves building, a special challenge and talking about what they have learnt with parents and other adults. Their hard work and perseverance are celebrated with a certificate and lots of high fives!
What you can do
Teachers are fully supported with comprehensive resources available to download on the IET Teacher Resources webpage, including image banks to use within sessions, session and training videos, and curriculum grids.
You can sign up here, and if you're in a location with funding, complete the 30 Day Challenge to get grant funding to cover all the costs associated with delivering the programme in your school. The team at Learnit (Ireland) or the IET (UK) will support you through the process.
Lego project receipts
We had a few problems initially with sourcing the sets that we needed and with sorting out our funding due to our office manager being on long term sick, so our project couldn't actually start until the Summer Term.
All 3 of our Y1 classes took part in the Lego project, a total of 90 children. With 3 teachers and 3 TA's also leading the sessions.
Verbal feedback was gained from the children who took part in the project and photos of the project were shared weekly with parents through our Tapestry app.
Initially we wanted the project to run for the full 10 weeks, however, due to the initial issues we actually ran the project for 7 weeks across the Summer term.
The project was a resounding success, with all of the children taking part and exploring the STEM activities. Our children with SEND also found the project easy to take part in and could engage with the resources well.
The feedback from the children was very positive, with children commenting that they really enjoyed being able to have Lego as one of their lessons and that they looked forward to it every week
We had a few problems initially with sourcing the sets that we needed and with sorting out our funding due to our office manager being on long term sick, so our project couldn't actually start until the Summer Term.
All 3 of our Y1 classes took part in the Lego project, a total of 90 children. With 3 teachers and 3 TA's also leading the sessions.
Verbal feedback was gained from the children who took part in the project and photos of the project were shared weekly with parents through our Tapestry app.
Initially we wanted the project to run for the full 10 weeks, however, due to the initial issues we actually ran the project for 7 weeks across the Summer term.
The project was a resounding success, with all of the children taking part and exploring the STEM activities. Our children with SEND also found the project easy to take part in and could engage with the resources well.
The feedback from the children was very positive, with children commenting that they really enjoyed being able to have Lego as one of their lessons and that they looked forward to it every week.
Timeline – Staff training to run the project will take place over the Autumn Term. Initially the project will be delivered to small groups of children through a school club provision run by Clare McCluskey. This will give me the chance to understand how to teach and deliver the lessons using the resources and then we will hold staff meetings to allow the rest of the staff team to explore the resources as well.
Once the initial training has been completed then the project will be delivered to all of the children in KS1 during the Spring 1 term. (Jan-March) The children in Early years will also have access to the project and this will be delivered in small group sessions throughout the year.
Budget – The entirety of the initial budget £1700 will go on purchasing 9 Lego steam park kits at a cost of £1699.38.
Covid Safety Plan – We still undertake extra cleaning of resources and ensure that children are regularly washing their hands throughout the day.
Expected impact – Approximately 230 children will take part in this project and we will aim to train 11 members of staff initially to deliver and teach this. The impact of the project will be measured through formative observations of the children through their play and exploration of the resources. A big focus for us is the exposure to STEM activities, providing our children with the opportunity to problem solve, communicate with others effectively and take on a role within their team to achieve their goal. Initially, this process will be very guided by staff but we are hoping to see children independently engaging with these resources and guiding their own explorations.