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FIRST LEGO 2011 Sponsored by API-Delta

Thanks to API-Delta member support, APIDelta once again was able to be a Gold Sponsor for the 9th Annual FIRST LEGO League (FLL) and Junior FIRST LEGO League tournament. This year, the event was held at Holy Cross High School in New Orleans on Saturday, December 10, 2011.

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The objective of FLL is to introduce middleschool students to the fun and experience of solving real-world problems by applying math, science, and technology through the building of Lego robots. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science & Technology) further inspires students with the excitement of a head-to-head competitive sports event and an invitation to present findings from a team research project. The event also includes a Jr. FLL challenge whereby K-3 grades compete. Students research the topic of the challenge, create a model using LEGOs, and present their research for judging.

This year's Challenge was "Food Factor". Teams investigated food sources and identified innovative solutions for keeping foods safe. Each team built and programmed a LEGO robot to perform missions relating to food handling. In addition, participating teams created a website, and gave a live presentation, utilizing media equipment, that described the contamination or spoiling problem the team researched; described the team's innovative solution; described how the team shared its findings with others and described the team's coordination and development.

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The event has grown from an initial 15 team tournament in 2003 to 79 teams from around the state participating this year. Contact Annette Oertling for details at annette@tulane.edu.

The 2012 Challenge was "Senior Solutions". FIRST LEGO team determined ways to improve the quality of life for seniors by helping them continue to be independent, engaged, and connected in their communities. Participating 9-14 year olds explored the topic of aging and how it affected a person's ability to maintain his or her lifestyle - solving issues like getting around, keeping in touch, or staying fit. This event proved to be an interesting event for many of the aging oil industry employees. Hopefully some great innovative ideas have come from these ambitious students. Additional information can be found on the web site http://www.firstlegoleague.org.

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