We focus on Junior FIRST LEGO League (JrFLL) and FIRST LEGO League (FLL) from August through the end of the JrFLL/FLL season (which varies from year to year, sometimes ending in December, other times as late as February).   During this season, we:

• Host Open Houses for the public
• Participate in the FTC, FLL and JrFLL (in the future, we will also sponsor FRC teams)
• Conduct free region-wide training for FLL coaches and teams
• Provide a variety of summer camps
• Host TeamXchange
• Host the annual Corporate Robo Challenge - Geeks vs. Geeks

Running from the end of the JrFLL/FLL season to mid-May, the second semester generally lasts about sixteen weeks. Because the kids are often stir-crazy from the holiday and burned out from the FLL season, we schedule two to four weeks of really fun, hands-on science and math activities when we return from the holiday break. Then, we do an intensive six- to ten-week unit study on a STEM topic. At the end of the semester, we schedule another two to three weeks of fun science and math activities.

Over the last several years, we have done intensives on:

• Chemistry
• Physics
• Climate change
• Fossil fuels and alternative energy sources
• Transportation
• Structural engineering
• Robots outside the FLL
• Video game programming
• Web programming

Fun math and science programs have included:

• The geometry of origami
• Astronomy
• Math games like karuta and sumo math wrestling
• Biology labs

And, the kids have:

• Taken tours of local robotics facilities like the Harley Davidson plant
• Participated in Space Camp in Hutchinson, KS
• Learned about public transportation from Kansas City Area Transit Authority
• Flown with the Young Eagles
• Toured the Federal Air Traffic Control Center
• Learned about new transportation technologies from Missouri Department of Transportation
• Conducted a bike/walk instead of drive challenge with the Missouri Bicycle Federation
• Worked on a city plan with the Mid-America Regional Council
• Learned about logistics from YRC Worldwide
• Toured the King City, MO Wind Farm
• Toured the Discovery Center energy-saving systems
• Toured Cerner Corporation
• Took classes at the KU Bioengineering Labs
• Visited with Children’s Mercy’s Biomedical Engineering team