5 December 2017
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Many weeks of problem-solving, teamwork and practical applications of science, technology and engineering came together at the First LEGO League Finals for Cork, hosted in University College this weekend (Sat. 2 Dec). Coláiste Dáibhead’s team, Na Laochra, were announced as overall winners of Cork’s First LEGO League beating off stiff competition from 10 secondary school teams from the Cork region. Na Laochra team will now go forward to represent Cork in the Ireland & UK First LEGO League Finals in February 2018 in the UK.
Other awards were presented to recognise the incredible LEGO innovations that the first and second year teams had created. The Robot Design Award was presented to ‘The Master Builders’ team from Deerpark CBS, while the Robot Performance Award went to ‘RoboDucks’ team from Douglas Community School. The Core Values Award was presented to ‘Bricks Before Chicks & Harry’ team from St. Colemans College, Midleton. Gaelcholáiste Mhuire A.G.also picked up an award for the achievements of their ‘Hydrating Heroes’ team.
The FIRST® LEGO® League is a collaboration between Learn it, Qualcomm, UCC School of Engineering and Cork Education Support Centre and directly supported by Science Foundation Ireland under the SFI Discover Programme. The First LEGO League Finals were organised by Learn It, the only official providers of LEGO education school workshops, teacher training and camps in Ireland. They provided all the equipment and support for theFIRST® LEGO® League hosted at UCC’s Devere Hall.
“Judging was very intense due to the high level of entries from Cork for the finals. Essentially First LEGO Leagues provides students with a fun way to engage in practical science, tech, engineering and math (STEM) applications through LEGO. We look forward to working with even more schools in Cork next year to grow this amazing competition further to benefit more students,” said Olive Anne Horgan, Project Manager, Learn It.
For more details please see www.learnit.ie/fll. Furthe
Celebrating are Tom Bonds as team mascot Tap Man, Alexander Lawton, Chloe Alavoine, Maria Cummins and Andrew White with teacher Tadhg O Laighin of the ‘Na Laochra’ team from Colaiste Daibheid who were were announced as overall winners for Cork’s First LEGO League, the international science and technology challenge, held at UCC this weekend. The competition aims to engage young people in problem-solving, teamwork and really practical science, tech, engineering and math (STEM) applications throughÊLEGO. Picture. John Allen
