The students from class 2 at CSG Dingstede in Meppel show that you can do more with LEGO than just stack building blocks on top of each other in the First Lego League. A regional final for LEGO builders was passed with flying colors and yielded two prizes. The day after tomorrow is the national final in Den Bosch.
LEGO bricks have been around for 75 years and the Danish toys have had more and more applications over the years. For example, commercially available packages often already contain small motors and programmable computers. The participants in the First Lego League push the boundaries of what is possible.
“They actually learn programming at primary school,” says teacher Dick Tepper. “It’s an easy way of programming that you find everywhere and nowhere.” According to the teacher, programming itself is not a big challenge for most children. “Even the elderly, if they get a little angry, they can do it. Even I can do it,” he says, laughing.
The Meppel students already know what winning is. In February they took home the Robot Award and the Champions Award. But in the Brabant capital on Saturday they will encounter about forty opponents who also emerged as the best LEGO builders in their own region.
“I expect the same as the regional competition, but bigger,” says student Mila. Fellow student Semaz agrees: “We have seen a few finalists in action online, but we don’t know what they have to offer and we don’t know exactly what to expect.”
However, Dingstede’s students are not yet ready for good construction alone. The team must also find an innovative solution to a problem and present it. This has become a website where people can go who want to draw, but are lacking inspiration. Together with the LEGO robot, this should be very popular next Saturday.