Building more than LEGOs: League leads kids, parents to building skills for the future

This paid piece is sponsored by EmBe.

“I am going to be an engineer – and I am going to build something no one has ever seen before.”

Chad Bishop remembers when one of his young FIRST LEGO League team members said that to a co-coach.

He remembers what it was like when the jocks on the team recognized that a younger, neuro-atypical team member who “plagued them with annoying behaviors for five years just won them a state title.”

With sincere admiration they said, “Your brain is so big.”

That also was the year his teams embraced a Star Wars sponsorship and went to their state tournament in full costume.

But mostly, when Bishop thinks about FIRST LEGO League, he thinks about the moments when the kids “get it.” They make the significant connections needed to understand a complex problem.

“They sit and grind on a problem for hours, solve it, knowing they can figure it out,” said Bishop, who has been instrumental in growing the program in South Dakota.

“When you see kids who come from very different backgrounds collaborate on a big project or on a robot and they gain a true appreciation for their teammates’ capabilities – granting psychological safety to those who are a bit different than them to talk, explore, try things – you know that is a higher level skill they will take with them forever.”

Starting soon, hundreds of area kids once again will be able to participate in FIRST LEGO League, which now is a program through EmBe open to boys and girls age 6 to 14.

Participants gain real-world problem-solving experiences through a guided, global robotics program that revolves around creating with LEGOs. They learn to experiment and grow their critical thinking, coding and design skills through hands-on STEM learning.

There are two divisions depending on age, with younger kids working toward a science fair-like demonstration of their work and older kids competing in challenges to potentially advance beyond the local level.

“We’ve been averaging 70 to 80 teams for the two programs,” said Jeremy Haugen, the program coordinator at EmBe.

“We want these to be long-lasting teams, so they tend to be kids who know each other or live near each other in groups organized by parents because the parents play a role in volunteer coaching.”

Teams average at least three members but can go up to 10 and require two parent volunteers as coaches. The commitment beyond practices is about an hour a week for the coaches.

“Since the families are in control of when meetings are, it really does kind of fit in with most families,” said Haugen, adding that most teams meet an hour a week when kids are younger and ramp up to three or six hours right before events a couple of times a week.

“Any adult who wants to help youth learn can be a coach. The LEGO community is very supportive to new coaches,” said Kathy Heinemann, a parent volunteer coach.

She appreciates that the league brings public, private and homeschool youth together in a community program, she added.

“FIRST LEGO League challenges youth to think outside the box and solve problems on their own instead of being told what to do,” she said. “It’s more than LEGOs.  It is learning, problem-solving, teamwork, communication and fun.”

“There’s something in FIRST LEGO League for every kind of kid,” Haugen added.

“We have the kids that just love LEGOs, and we have kids who love programming and tackling engineering problems and kids who take over the communication aspect of managing the team, where I know they’ll become directors or project managers later in life.”

“For parents, it’s important not to feel overwhelmed at the prospect of coaching,” said Erica Knippling, whose son began participating in 2016 and whose daughter joined a few years later.

“Coaching has been a great experience, and I’ve learned just as much as my kids,” she said. “Ultimately, you are there to guide and encourage the kids, and they are responsible to do the work. This has truly helped both my children in so many ways.”

She has seen growth in teamwork and public speaking, she said.

“It is one thing to be on a team and compete in sports, but truly working on a team to meet goals, brainstorm and make deadlines helps these kids far beyond the LEGO tables,” she said. “I have seen them get over their fears of programming, even learn to step back and let others take the lead – all in all, skills that are going to help them succeed in their future careers.”

Bishop’s three daughters all participated.

“While they have made it very clear to me that they have no intention of being engineers – for now anyway – each of them found a niche in the program and really excelled,” he said. “Dad tells them I wanted them to have this tool in their tool belt of life because even if they don’t become engineers or scientists, they will know how to communicate and work with them.”

This season, which begins next month, revolves around the theme CARGO CONNECT, where teams will explore the future of transportation and re-imagine the global transportation system to explore new ways of improving how we access and deliver needed and desired goods.

From the shipment of packages in rural and urban areas to disaster-relief delivery and high-tech air transit, teams will re-imagine transportation innovations that better connect and grow communities and economies around the world.

“The materials that families get will be organized around and display that theme, and the problems the teams are asked to investigate will relate to that theme, so it’s really cool,” Haugen said.

Teams need to be formed soon, he added. Registration in the Sioux Falls area runs through October.

“So get those teams now, and you should start practicing soon,” he said. “And we’re here to support you every step of the way.”

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