Oakridge Students Make Moves with Lego League Challenge

Students at Oakridge Elementary are making a name for themselves in the Lego League arena. This month, the Oakridge Lego League Challenge team advanced to the state-level competition, where 35 teams competed in Tulsa. The Oakridge Blue Team earned second place in the Robot Design category.

Oakridge STEAM Teacher and Lego League sponsor Lori Newmark said the team participated in a regional competition in November at Oklahoma Baptist University, where several contests were held with three to five teams. Of these, three teams advanced to state competition, with two being from Oakridge.

At the regional competition at OBU, the Blue Team won first place in Core Values, and the Yellow Team won second place in Robot Performance, taking the Overall Champions Award.  

What is Lego League?

Lego League is an introductory division of the FIRST Robotics program. According to the FIRST Lego League website, "FIRST LEGO League sparks curiosity and confidence in young minds through hands-on STEM experiences. Across the globe, students imagine, build, and explore together as they develop critical thinking, collaboration, and creative problem-solving skills in their most formative years."

Their webpage notes that the Lego League Challenge is a friendly competition with teams of students ages 9-16 engaging in research, problem-solving, coding, and engineering. They build and program a LEGO^® Education SPIKE™ Prime robot that navigates the missions of a robot game. They also participate in a research project to identify and solve a relevant real-world problem. 

Newmark said the Challenge has four phases for students. The first phase is the Innovation Project. This is where FIRST releases the theme for the season on Aug. 1. Students research the theme and find a challenge or problem that professionals face. 

"This year, the theme was "UNEARTHED," focusing on archaeologists. The Blue Oakridge team focused on the lack of education and funding for archaeology.  The Yellow Oakridge team focused on erosion at archaeological sites. 

- Lori Newmark, STEAM/LEGO League Teacher

They had to meet with professionals in the field, research and then create a possible solution to this challenge. They made a model of their solution and gave a five-minute presentation to the judges at the competition. The judges ask questions for 5-10 minutes about their innovative project.  

The second phase is Core Values. Teams demonstrate that they practice the FIRST core values of  Innovation, Inclusion, Impact, Fun, Teamwork, & Discovery. During the judging, students are asked about core values and must prove adherence to them throughout the competition.

The third phase is Robot Design. Students present to judges on how they designed their robot. They must prove that all 10 members participated in building and coding the team's robot.

Phase four is the Robot Mission Challenge. This is where students code their robot to complete missions. They use SPIKE Prime on Lego Education to code the robot. They write the program using word blocks, download it to their robot, and then run the robot.  Missions include driving to a certain spot to lift something, push something, move something and more.

"Teams may only have four members at the robot table during the competition; however, everyone on the team has participated in coding and building attachments for the robot missions," said Newmark. 

Oakridge competes in the FIRST Lego League Challenge for students ages nine-14. Newmark said she hopes their junior highs might take on the Lego League challenge. Junior highs at MPS participate in VEX Robotics and other Project Lead the Way STEM-focused programs.

One of the Oakridge Lego League sponsors is Matt Brown of Northrop Grumman, an aerospace and defense company. He volunteers to work with the teams and Northrop Grumman has donated funds to support the Oakridge teams. Additionally, Oakridge sixth-grade ELA teacher Timothy Cravens is the second sponsor of the Lego League teams.

Oakridge started its Lego League team during the 2023-24 school year. The two teams consist of 4th through 6th graders with 10 members per team. They meet some days before school, sometimes in the evenings, and then on weekends as competitions draw closer. 

Newmark said, "Our teams would not be as successful without support from our school and our parents. The parents bring their students for extra practices in the evenings and sometimes on weekends. Luckily, the students request extra practice and they love it."

Learn more about the FIRST Lego League.