Students in all the 104 Unity Schools are getting an opportunity to learn robotics by participating in the 2020/2021 FIRST LEGO League Challenge.
The global challenge saw over 500,000 children around the world compete with each other. The Unity Schools in Nigeria constituted 132 teams of 1,320 students.
The students saw custom-built robots come to life in fast-paced, timed competitions and thousands of festively dressed students and their coaches putting designs and skills to the test.
To successfully complete the Challenge, teams of young people were required to conduct research and then build and program a LEGO Education SPIKE Prime or LEGO MINDSTORMS robot to perform fitness-themed missions in the RePLAY Robot Game.
The aim was to build on-site teamwork, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills in the students. It is also meant to help students develop innovation, critical thinking, and lifelong skills and these are the skills that would prepare them for the future of work and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4iR).
“We are equipping them for the challenges of the future and the workplace of the future; we can’t afford to leave our students untutored along this line because we want them to be globally competitive entrepreneurs. We want jobs to look for them; the reverse shouldn’t be the case” said Elizabeth Adedigba, Director, Technology & Science Education, Federal Ministry of Education (Nigeria).
Read Also: DLM Capital launches Fintech Challenge to empower Nigerian tech innovators with seed capital
The program was organized by Coderina Education and Technology Foundation (Coderina) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education with support from SAP, DOW, Ford, NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency, the LEGO Foundation and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
“We are in an unusual season which means we had to navigate the Zonal Championship in a very strategic way to ensure that students and their mentors are well protected from COVID- Strict observance of COVID protocols and adherence to guidelines limited the fun somewhat. We hope to continue to run the national championship in a way that ensures no one is put in harm’s way,” said Femi Niyi, Coderina, Chairman, Board of Coderina Education and Technology Foundation.
The National First Lego League (FLL) Robotics Championship: Due to the need to comply with Covid-19 safety protocols, the coming together of over 800 students of the 104 Unity Schools for the FLL Tournament, which should have been at a single location, was divided into two, along regional lines.
Students from Schools in the Northern and Southern regions of Nigeria, competed in Kano and Lagos respectively in a head-to-head, putting more than 12 weeks of research, design, and programming to the test in the 1st ever Regional Championships to win honors and recognition.
For the National Championship, the regional qualifiers/winners, alongside other private schools and neighbourhood teams converged online in a 3-day virtual competition. At the end of the National Championship, Queen College Lagos; a new entrant to the program and all-girls school, emerged as the overall winner of the Championship.
In 2nd place was the Federal Science and Technology College, Orozo, and coming 3rd was Team AIROL, an all-girls team from University of Lagos AI Lab that is mentored by 17year old Victory Yinka-Banjo who was recently featured by CNN, having won a series of US ivy league scholarships totaling over $5million.
The three teams won places to represent Nigeria at the International Open Championship in Greece.
