Young engineers across Meath take part in Lego tournament

'Team Aqua: Robits' from Boyne Community School, Trim, took home the Lego trophy as the overall winners at this year's Meath First Lego League Submerged tournament.

The tournament took place on Thursday 13th March as part of the STEAM Meath programme, supported by Meta.

They also scored the top points in the robot game and will be travelling to Dublin next month to compete in the All-Ireland final.

They were joined on the winner’s podium by their classmates, Team 'Boyne Lego Legends', who won the Innovation Project Award, as well as Teams 'Ares' and 'The Blubbies' from Enfield Community College who won the Robot Design Award and Core Values Award respectively.

Receiving honorable mentions at the tournament were Rising All Stars Team 'SPC RoboRockers' from St Peter’s College and '8th Wonder' from Athboy Community School who received the Breakthrough Award.

Heats of the hands-on robotics and problem-solving programme take place throughout Ireland this month, with teams of children, aged 10 to 16, learning to think creatively, like scientists and engineers.

The fun challenges involve a robot game and a research project, and this year’s theme will see Lego technology used to explore the layers of the ocean, bringing fresh ideas to the surface as students ‘sea’ into the future!

Teams use technical and collaborative skills to explore life beneath the ocean waves in one of the planet’s most complex ecosystems.

Supported by Meta, as part of their ongoing commitment to supporting Meath schools and community initiatives, STEAM Meath aims to ignite creativity and transform learning in eleven primary schools and eight secondary schools across the county. It is now in year two of a three-year pilot programme, and has so far engaged over 1,100 students with over 12,700 hours of STEAM learning delivered in Meath schools.

With the programme students have a fun opportunity to discover the world of STEAM and develop key life skills, including teamwork, innovation, collaboration, confidence and persistence, along with design thinking and programming skills, all through the use of a range of hands-on and engaging Lego Education resources.

Teachers also receive a range of professional development opportunities to support integrating these fantastic resources and projects into their schools.

First Lego League participation is tailored to three age sections, from early years learning to Transition Year students, with robot games and activities suited to each level.

Irish STEM education experts CreativeHUT organise the First Lego League in Ireland, and Chief Impact Officer, Ross Maguire says the fun team-challenge is a platform for students to discover STEM learning.

“Challenges are thoughtfully designed to promote collaboration, critical thinking, and experiential learning. Along with mastering coding and engineering, and scientific thinking, students acquire critical life skills like tenacity, teamwork, and communication”.

Participating secondary schools included: Athboy Community School, Boyne Community School, Coláiste Na Mí, Drogheda ETSS, Enfield Community College, St Peter’s College, St Joseph’s Mercy Secondary School and Scoil Phobail Rath Cairn.