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Tips for Surveys

Every season, many teams come up with surveys. Here are...

Tips for Robot Design Judging

The students on the team have 5 minutes to explain...

Tips for Innovation Project Judging

The students on the team need to create a 5-minute...

FIRST LEGO League Overview for Coaches

FIRST LEGO League Challenge consists of 4 parts: Core Values...

More than LEGO or Robots

FIRST LEGO League is more than just playing with LEGO....

Getting Started

What are the basic steps in starting a team? Step...

Splitting Costs

How do you share expenses on the team? The following...

Organizing the Robotics Room

Here are some tips for organizing your robotics space. The...

Picking Team Members

How do you pick team members? The following article takes...

Innovation Project Overview for Coaches

The Innovation Project is comprised of three main components: Identify...

Core Values Overview for Coaches

FIRST LEGO League Challenge consists of four categories (Core Values,...

What to expect at your first tournament

What can you expect at your first event? (Note that...

Post-Tournament Reflections

A Hearty Congratulations, Coaches! You made it through the qualifiers....

Developing Presentation Skills

How do you develop presentation skills? The following article takes...

Building an FLL Table

FIRST provides building instructions for a wooden table, but here...

Team Budget

When starting a FIRST LEGO League team, it is important...

Non-LEGO Essentials for Every Team

What are some items (beyond LEGO) that might be useful...

A Dozen or More Off-Season Ideas

What can your team do in the off-season? There is...

Kids as Stakeholders

How do you get a FIRST LEGO League team to...

Developing Creativity

Balancing inspiration from others and developing creativity. The following article...

Homework in FIRST LEGO League

Whether or not you assign homework is up to you,...

Supporting students of all Abilities

FIRST LEGO League prides itself on being an inclusive program....

Useful Resources

Here is a list of useful resources for your season....

Innovation Project Presentation Tips

Presenting your Innovation Project in front of judges is an...

How to do Research

How exactly do you do research? The process of doing...

Finding Experts

Every season, the topic of “how do I find experts”...

Choosing Between Robots

Your team has designed two different robots. How do we...

Virtual Team Meetings Tools and Tips

Here are popular free video conferencing/meeting tools commonly used by...

Keeping Organized

The following article takes ideas and discussions shared from the...

Tournament Tips

The following article takes ideas and discussions shared from the...

Why Your Team Should Attend a Scrimmage

Top 10 Reasons Why Your Team Should Attend a Scrimmage...

Creating Happy Campers at Team Meetings

Celebrating with Shout Outs FIRST LEGO League can be an...

Mission Model Building Tips

Here are some general ideas shared by members of the...

Open Software

This season, you can use any programming language you want...

Youth Mentors

Considering having a FIRST Robotics Competition or FIRST Tech Challenge...

Robotics for All: WeDo in the Classroom

I have been involved in FIRST for about 10 years...

Useful Parts and Where to Get Them

The following discussion has ideas posted on the Facebook Group...

Pit Decorations

If your team is invited to World Festival or an...

Engaging Girls in FIRST LEGO League

How do you engage girls on a FIRST LEGO League...

Dealing with Shyness

Many teams have to deal with a team member who...

What to do when your team is frustrated

What do you do when your kids seem frustrated/stuck? They...

Lessons from a Second-Year Coach

Catherine Sarisky, a second-year coach from Virginia, shares thirteen thoughts,...

Tips from Judges

We asked World Festival and State-Level Judges for general tips...

Tips from Robot Design Judges

We asked World Festival and State-Level Robot Design Judges for...

Tips from Project Judges

We asked World Festival and State-Level Project Judges for tips...

Tips from Core Values Judges

We asked World Festival and State-Level Core Values Judges for...

Tips from Referees

We asked Head Referees from all over the world what...

Collaboration and Compromise

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

More than a Trophy

Quinten, also known as Nasa105, is a teenage LEGO designer...

FIRST LEGO League in the Classroom

Caroline Hanson is a LEGO Education Master educator from Aspen,...

Team Member Applications

I noticed that the question of how to pick team...

Coaching FIRST LEGO League Explore

The question of coaching FIRST LEGO League Explore comes up...

Traveling with Robots

For teams that qualify for a post-season event, transporting your...

The Power of Persistence

FIRST LEGO League is about the iterative design process when...

Learning From Experts

Our team’s favorite FLL Core value is “ We know...

Coaching Core Values

Here is my summary of what I think is essential...

Benefits of FIRST LEGO League

What are the benefits of participating in FIRST LEGO League?...

What is in a Logo?

Team names and logos represent who you are. They are...

FIRST LEGO League Deliverables

This article provides one coach’s view of what a team...

Segue From FLL to FRC

“Combining the excitement of sport with the rigors of science...

Tools for Teams

A few weeks ago, I asked teams about what tools...

Number of Hours

FIRST LEGO League teams come in all shapes and sizes....

Team Member awards

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Preparing for Qualifiers

I’d like to share a thought that might help calm...

Master Scribe, Piecekeeper and More

Every team is different, but every student on a team...

Buying Parts

As your team progresses through the season, you might find...

Time is Running Out

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

How do you pick Robot Operators?

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Presentation Tips

The following are responses from the Facebook Group FLL: Share...

Competition Day Tips

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

What to Expect in Your Judging Sessions

It is helpful to have a good understanding of what...

Keeping on Track

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Simple Versus Complex

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Team Facebook Pages

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Helping teams learn programming

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

FLL to FTC: The Road Ahead

After four years in FIRST Lego League, our team made...

Day in the Life of

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

FLL to other FIRST programs

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Time Management

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Why Chemistry Matters

Several coaches and parents have asked one version or another...

Engineering Journal

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

To Rebuild or Not to Rebuild

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Team Building Activities

This article was inspired by a visit to the Forge...

Sharing Space

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Debugging Tips

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Fundraising Tips

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Transitioning From FLL

The following discussion is quoted from the Facebook Group FLL:...

Alternative Programming Languages

Did you know that you can use alternative programming languages...

The Three Hs in FIRST LEGO League

In April this year, I did a training course in...

Starting a Team

I will be writing a few articles in this series....

Coach's Role During the Robot Game

After six years of competing in FIRST LEGO League, my...

Formal, Non-Formal & Informal Learning

There are different ways to learn. As a teacher and...

Cooperative Learning in FLL

NXT Generation competed in FIRST® LEGO® League for many years...

Failure is Always an Option

This famous quote from the Mythbusters has become a favorite...

Funding Your Season

Bayou Builders is a community team in Louisiana. We are...

Learning One Step Ahead of Your Students

In late 2015, Iona Primary School won a FIRST LEGO...

Why Coach?

When a neighborhood FLL team formed in 2014, my daughter...

Swag - Team Giveaways

Swag? The word sounds rather strange and, I have to...

Sorting Parts

If you start out well, the rest of the tasks...

Encouraging Team Unity

I have coached FIRST LEGO League for four years and...

Maximize Learning and Minimize Cloning

In this article, I tackle the Internet and the role...

Start Where the Old Season Ended

What do you do at the start of the season?...

Dare to Prepare

Congratulations! Your team has navigated through the challenges of FLL....

Preparing for Judging Presentations

While many people join FIRST LEGO League solely to design,...

Funding a Team

The goal of this article is to share a few...

Achievement and Celebration

The Fantastic LEGO Ladies formed in 2014 and in our...

Gracious Professionalism

Gracious Professionalism® is one of the most important aspects of...

Getting Started with LEGO Robotics

It was one of the most stressful moments I’ve faced...

Choosing Roles - Involving all Members

Bayou Builders is a community-based team sponsored by the Louisiana...

The Joy and Passion of Coaching

As a computer scientist for the Department of Defense in...

Coopertition Through Gaming

FLL teams are like any other team. To truly function,...

Introduction of Core Values

I have been a coach for a FIRST LEGO League...

Motivating Your Team

I have coached a FIRST LEGO League team for six...

Socializing and Sharing on the Internet

My FIRST LEGO League team was very active online. As...

Constructing a Team Identity

Building a team’s identity is not an easy task. It...

Scheduling

One of the hardest parts of managing a large team...