FLL Explorer Academy · Week 7 of 8

Research + Tell Your Story

75–90 min Teams of 3–4 Grades 3–5 Chromebooks needed

By the end of today, you will…

Connect your robot solution to a real-world problem and a real person it helps
Find 2 reliable facts about the season's topic
Plan and start your team poster
Practice explaining your project in plain language

What you need

Materials for Week 7

Chromebooks for research
Poster board + markers
Engineering notebooks

Part 1 10 min

Who does this help?

Every engineering solution exists because someone has a problem. Before you can explain your project to families at the showcase, you need to know: WHO has this problem and HOW does your solution help them?

Answer these two questions as a team — write them in your notebook:

"The person or group who has this problem is…"
"Our solution helps them because…"

Teacher notes ▾

If teams struggle to identify the person, give them the constraint: "It has to be a real type of person — not 'everyone' or 'the world.'"

Narrow answers like "underground construction workers" or "archaeologists in tight spaces" are more powerful in presentations than broad ones like "people who need robots." This also makes the poster more compelling.

Part 2 25 min

Research

How to find good information

Not everything online is accurate. Use these 3 signals to check a source:

Who wrote it? Look for organizations, universities, or experts — not anonymous posts.
When was it published? For science topics, look for sources from the last 5 years.
Does another source agree? If two different sources say the same thing, it's more likely true.

Your research goal

Find 2 facts about your season topic that you didn't know before today. Write each fact + the source (website name or book title) in your engineering notebook. One fact should connect to your solution.

Presentation Planner

Fill in each section. Read your answers in order — that's your 2-minute presentation.

1. The problem we're solving is: (What challenge does your robot address?)

2. The person this affects is: (Try to name a specific type of person — the more specific, the stronger your solution will be)

3. Our solution is: (Describe your robot and what it does)

4. We learned that: (Include one fact + source from your research)

5. If we had more time, we would: (What would be your next improvement?)

Read it aloud: Read your answers in order — that's your 2-minute presentation. Practice it twice before next week.

Teacher notes ▾

The Specialist leads this activity, but every team member should contribute at least one sentence. Walk around and listen — if a team's presentation sounds like a list of facts, ask "but WHY does that fact matter to the person you said it helps?"

That connection — fact + so what — is what makes a compelling presentation. Also listen for "we" language: presentations that say "I did…" instead of "we built…" signal that the team may not all feel equal ownership.

Part 3 20 min

Team poster

What goes on your poster

Your poster tells the story of your season. It should include all of these:

Your team name and team logo/drawing
The problem you're solving and who it helps
A drawing or photo of your model (sketch it now; photo it for the real poster)
Your solution in 1–2 sentences
One fact from your research
One thing your team learned about working together

Split the poster sections between team members:

Specialist — drafts the text sections
Operator + Driver — design the layout and draw the model
Technician — labels the mechanical and coded parts of the model drawing

Start in class — finish details at home if needed.

Teacher notes ▾

Encourage students to keep text concise — a good guideline is that every section should be readable in 5 seconds from arm's length. Clear headings and short paragraphs help. If a section feels crowded, trimming it will usually make it stronger.

The drawing of the model is often the strongest part — give it the most space.

Part 4 10 min

Engineering notebook entry

Today's entry — Week 7

Write or draw your answer to each prompt:

The most interesting fact we found:

One thing I want to practice before the showcase:

Something our team built or figured out that I'm proud of:

A question I still have (from Week 2's sticky note — did we answer it?):

Teacher notes ▾

The last prompt ("from Week 2's sticky note") is a callback to Week 2 where you collected unanswered questions. If you saved them, bring them out now.

Students discovering that they've answered their own questions from 5 weeks ago is a powerful moment — it shows them how much they've learned.