Today at the FIRST® Championship over in the US, LEGO® Education and FIRST unveiled exclusive new LEGO sets created specifically for the 2019-2020 FIRST LEGO League Jr. and FIRST LEGO League. It has also been announced that the recently unveiled SPIKE Prime set can be used in the new FIRST LEGO League seasons, along with Mindstorms EV3. LEGO and FIRST have been in partnership for a while, with LEGO used to inspire kids to learn and have fun, through various activities, including robotics. The new LEGO SPIKE Prime set is due later this year and will introduced a number of new elements. The two new LEGO Education FIRST LEGO League sets, Boomtown Build and City Shifter will also be available via LEGO Education later this year.
LEGO® EDUCATION AND FIRST® INSPIRE STEAM LEARNING WITH NEW ARCHITECTURE-THEMED LEGO SETS FOR 2019-2020 FIRST® LEGO® LEAGUE SEASON
New LEGO® Education SPIKE™ Prime and new SPIKE™ Prime Expansion Set can now be used in FIRST LEGO League along with LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3.
HOUSTON, TEXAS (April 17, 2019) – Today at the FIRST® Championship, LEGO® Education and FIRST unveiled two new, exclusive LEGO sets created specifically for the 2019-2020 FIRST® LEGO® League Jr. and FIRST® LEGO® League season. LEGO Education also announced today that its newly released LEGO Education SPIKE™ Prime with the new SPIKE™ Prime Competition Expansion Set can be used along with LEGO®MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 in FIRST LEGO League. LEGO Education SPIKE Prime and the SPIKE Prime Expansion Set can be pre-ordered today in the U.S. and will be available around the world in August 2019.
FIRST, an international youth not-for-profit, and LEGO teamed up in 1998 to create FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Jr. with the goal to give students around the world from 6 to 16 years old* a team-oriented in-school and afterschool activity to build confidence and friendly-competition spirit while also learning STEAM skills. Through its partnership with FIRST, LEGO Education is not only committed to helping every student build STEAM skills but also to build confidence through hands-on learning and team collaboration.
“If you meet students where they are, challenge them appropriately, allow them meaningful failures, they will ultimately succeed, and this builds their confidence and desire to learn more, try more and stretch themselves and their learning,” said Esben Stærk Jørgensen, president of LEGO Education. “We believe all students can gain confidence in STEAM through hands-on learning. We are excited for all FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Jr. participants to build their confidence in learning while competing with our newest architecture-themed sets and now with the addition of our intuitive and adaptive LEGO Education SPIKE™ Prime.”
The new sets and programs for the 2019-2020 FIRST LEGO League season are based on the theme of architecture and are titled BOOMTOWN BUILD℠” and CITY SHAPER℠. The 2019-2020 FIRST LEGO League Jr. BOOMTOWN BUILD Inspire set will reach more than 130,000 children, ages 6 to 10* from 41 countries and the 2019-2020 FIRST LEGO League CITY SHAPER Challenge set, which includes a new competition mat, will reach more than 320,000 children, ages 9 to 16*, from nearly 90 countries. Students are tasked with completing a challenge designed in partnership with architects and engineers and use a variety of LEGO Education products, including LEGO Education WeDo 2.0, LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 and the newly announced LEGO Education SPIKE Prime and SPIKE Prime Expansion set.
“FIRST LEGO League Jr. and FIRST LEGO League allow students to engage in the same real-world challenges that scientists and engineers face today,” said Donald E. Bossi, president of FIRST. “This coming season we’re thrilled for teams to explore city life through the architecture theme and create new, innovative solutions to improve our communities for the future. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of young students will be building problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills that are critical to their own future success.”
To learn more about FIRST LEGO League Jr. and FIRST LEGO League, visit www.firstinspires.org.
(*ages vary by country)
