Donegal school receives funding for LEGO® project

Background

St Peter's NS in Mountcharles, Co. Donegal, received funding to start a FIRST® LEGO® League Explore project, hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) programme for 6-9-year-olds. The school received €2,650 in funding from the Community Benefit Fund set up by Cloghervaddy Wind Farm Limited, in Co. Donegal. The funding was used to buy Lego sets for the children taking part in the project. 97 students took part in the programme (direct beneficiaries) and 11 staff, teachers, and special needs assistants supervised (indirect beneficiaries).

St Peter's NS is a school that lacks resources and was underfunded. When they saw the possibility of securing funding for a STEM learning opportunity they jumped at it. They had maths as an area of focus for the school self-evaluation and were looking for practical and innovative ways to bring more variety of learning to their classrooms.

Project Description

FIRST® LEGO® League shows young people what it means to be an engineer and work with STEM skills and subjects, but focuses on practical, hands-on learning, so they are doing, not watching. FIRST® LEGO® League Explore is designed for 6-9-year-olds and is an exciting, non-competitive STEM challenge that rapidly develops teamwork, design, programming, digital and communication skills.

Each year a theme relevant to the world around them is chosen as a focus for the children's work. The teams research the topic, displaying their ideas on a team poster, build a LEGO® model and programme one part to robotically move using LEGO® Education SPIKE Essential. Teams will then prepare to share their work and celebrate what they have discovered with a team of reviewers and other local teams at a FIRST® LEGO® League Explore Festival.

Results

The school principal says the children have developed their collaboration, teamwork, communication, and leadership skills through their work on the project.

They never envisaged the amount of learning opportunities outside of STEM that it would provide. Without a doubt this project will continue, and they look forward to completing more fundraising to further expand their initial project.

Funding

The funding secured from the Community Benefit fund enabled the school to start this project, allowing children to experience learning through Lego.  Their plan is to continue with expansion packs and more opportunities for the students.

All of the staff and students are excited to continue and expand their knowledge and bring more learning opportunities to their classrooms as they get the chance to secure further equipment.

After seeing the success and interest in the junior students, St Peter's NS has expanded and allowed every class the opportunity to engage in the STEM learning.

About the Community Benefit Fund

The Community Benefit Fund can support not-for-profit community enterprises where the focus is aligned with UN Sustainable Development goals, further details can be found in the Good Practice Principles published by DECC. Additionally, and just in the case of onshore wind farms, a near-neighbour payment (those living 1km or 1-2km from the project) also to be paid through the fund. Examples of projects and initiatives that have been funded through CBFs include scholarships, community centres, energy upgrades in sports clubs and community centres, education programmes and disability access projects.