[FLL] [FLL Jr.] Major structuring updates to FLL

[Jared Hasen-Klein]

Hey all,

We have been expecting a change in the structuring of FLL age groupings and tasks for about a year now. I was not expecting the news to be announced today, given that we are one week away from an announcement about next year's game (although perhaps they didn't want people to be surprised on the day). Anyways, without, further ado, here is the change:

FIRST LEGO League (the program previously intended for ages 9-14) will be split into three divisions, based on age group. 

FIRST LEGO League Jr. (the program previously intended for ages 6-10) is being eliminated and merged with FIRST LEGO League.

Here's the nitty gritty:

• There are three divisions of the new FIRST LEGO League experience:
• FLL Discover (grades PreK-1/ages 4-6) is essentially a new concept for younger students. They will be using primarily DUPLO bricks to get an introduction to STEM. There is no formal competition but at the end of the season, schools host "celebration events" for their team(s) to showcase their work.
• FLL Explore (grades 2-4/ages 6-10) is much like the current FLL Jr. Teams will be able to meet each other, share their ideas, and some teams will continue to be invited to share their work at the FIRST Championship, all in a non-competitive environment. Kids use WeDo kits for this game
• FLL Challenge (grades 4-8/ages 9-14 in N.A. and 9-16 in select other countries) is much like the traditional FLL program that you already know. It will continue to be competitive between schools and teams, with competitions being managed by your local region. The website doesn't say which robots are used, but I think it is safe to assume that all three generations of Mindstorms will be accepted (EV3, NXT, and RCX) and we may say the introduction of Spike Prime, too.

What else?

• The FLL website has been completely redone to reflect the new divisions. Lots of info there and more should be on the way.  https://www.firstlegoleague.org/
• The FIRST website has also been redone, matching the style of the new FLL website. You'll notice that FLL Jr. is gone from the "Programs" menu.  http://firstinspires.org/
• We are still expecting to hear at least something about the new challenge on May 15th.
• There are a few indications that the timing for the seasons is changing. This is speculation so feel free to ignore it...but for one, CITY SHAPER and BOOMTOWN BUILD are being listed as the 2020 games. Usually, FLL and FLL Jr. games are organized by the year in which the competition begins (e.g. CITY SHAPER was announced on August 1st, 2019 so it is classified as the 2019 game) but 2020 would be the year in which the competition ends (e.g. the FIRST Championship would have been in April 2020 for CITY SHAPER). I speculate that this means they will, at the very least, beginning naming challenges based on the year they end in (which would be nice and unified with FRC, the unified theme, and the Championship). More so, though, when considering that there's an announcement on May 15, I think it is possible that the season will be starting at a time other than August going forward. I don't know for certain, and of course all bets are off because of COVID-19.

Hopefully there are no other unexpected major announcements before the 15th but if there are, I'll be in touch.

Jared