New coding tools for schools from LEGO Education

LEGO Education, the section of the LEGO Group that works with schools and local communities, is launching new coding resources today.

The new scheme from LEGO Education offers free lesson plans, online courses for educators and encouragement for schools to get involved with the popular FIRST LEGO League. These are part of a selection of new tools that LEGO Education are offering to schools.

A press release explains more about the new launch:

“The job market for careers requiring coding skills is growing faster than nearly any other sector, yet a majority of students today aren’t given the opportunity to learn computer programming,” said Esben Stærk Jørgensen, president of LEGO Education. “At LEGO Education, we’re focused on sparking students’ curiosity in coding, and across all STEM subjects, and then nurturing and sustaining that interest throughout their education by delivering playful learning experiences that bring subjects to life in the classroom and make learning fun and impactful. Fostering these important skills among today’s youth will teach our leaders of tomorrow that anyone can code and release their potential to shape their own future.”

Free LEGO Education lesson plans ready to use in the classroom

Teachers can now freely access a wide range of lesson plans to help spark curiosity, engagement and collaboration using LEGO bricks and LEGO Education solutions in their classroom. LEGO Education lesson plans, created by and for teachers, are filtered by duration, difficulty level, subject, grade level and product. More lesson plans will be added this school year, as well as increased workflow interoperability with leading digital learning platforms. LEGO Education lesson plans are available at LEGOeducation.com/lessons.

Middle school students can now take advantage of LEGO MINDSTORMS® Education EV3’s integration into Apple’s Swift Playgrounds for iPad to combine physical and digital learning through the LEGO Education playful learning system. Today, teachers using LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 in their classrooms can also use the new EV3 Animal Rescue Book, a lesson plan designed to teach how to code MINDSTORMS creations with real Swift code. The EV3 Animal Rescue Book engages and motivates students to solve a real-world problem as they help an injured robotic turtle move and interact with its surroundings.

“I am thrilled to be bringing science, coding, and robotics to students in my 8th grade classes this year with the use of LEGO MINDSTORMS and Swift Playgrounds on iPad,” said Leah LaCrosse, Apple Distinguished Educator. “The unique mix of technology, science and creativity really gives me the ability to engage my students and helps make our learning come alive!”

Training and development courses help teachers bring playful learning experiences into their classrooms

Through the LEGO Education Academy, free online learning courses are available for some LEGO Education solutions and are designed to help teachers enhance the student experience and learning effectiveness while using LEGO Education solutions. Today, LEGO Education announced that a selection of these courses are now available on the Microsoft Educator Community. The Microsoft Educator Community is an online community where educators can connect and collaborate, find training and lessons, take their classes on virtual field trips, and earn badges and certificates on a personalized hub created for educators by educators.

Teachers can now access courses and earn badges for LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3. These self-paced courses take teachers from beginner to classroom-ready in successfully integrating LEGO Education solutions into existing STEM curriculum and daily lesson planning. Explore the three available courses in the Microsoft Educator Community – Getting Started, Programming and In the Classroom.

Also starting today, LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 is available on Windows 10 to complete the full Windows portfolio. All LEGO Education solutions are available on the leading operating systems – Android, Chrome, iOS, Mac OS, and Windows.

FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Jr. Challenge inspire interest and participation in science and technology

LEGO Education and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an international, K-12 not-for-profit organization founded to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology, announced that the 2017-2018 FIRST LEGO League and FIRST LEGO League Jr. seasons task students to explore the human water cycle. Registration for both programs is now open through www.firstinspires.org.

“Many things have changed in my teaching career, but one thing that’s been consistent is the excitement a new FIRST LEGO League season and challenge brings,” said Ian Chow-Miller, teacher and FIRST LEGO League coach. “Entering my fourteenth year as a coach I have not been let down by the creativity of the challenges, the innovation of the projects, and the emphasis on teamwork and cooperation with other teams. At its very core FIRST LEGO League works to improve engineering by allowing young scientists, mathematicians, builders and programmers to become their very best.”

Each year, FIRST LEGO League Jr. presents a new and exciting challenge to ignite creativity in young children. This year, while exploring the real-world theme of how water is used by humans, teams will use LEGO Education WeDo 2.0 to build and program a model that moves, learning basic engineering and programming concepts. Teams operate under a signature set of Core Values, which emphasize collaboration, discovery and respect.

The 2017-2018 AQUA ADVENTURE Challenge will reach over 65,000 children, ages 6-10 from 43 countries. New this year is an exclusive LEGO Education Inspire Set containing 700+ LEGO® bricks and elements teams can use to construct their team model. This set will also include a yearly model – a water pump for this season – that serves as a starting point for teams.

In FIRST LEGO League 2017-2018 HYDRO DYNAMICSSM Challenge, more than 235,000 children, ages 9 to 16, from nearly 90 countries are challenged to learn all about how we find, transport, use, and/or dispose of water, and propose solutions for any issues they identify. They will present their findings through a research Project presentation and compete in a Robot Game using the MINDSTORMS EV3 and theme-based LEGO models representing missions.

The LEGO Group recently launched LEGO BOOST 17101 Creative Toolbox, available now from shop.LEGO.com.