Robotics & Lego Archaeology theme
There is a major global K-12 robotics program theme focused on archaeology. Over 700,000 K-12 youth are working on projects for an international competition. It is sponsored by various organizations including: First Robotics, First Tech Challenge, and First Lego League.
They have all been assigned to research archaeology and address challenges that archaeologists face. The challenge began in August and goes into 2026. You can learn a bit more about what is required from the robotics team. This PDF from First Lego League Tutorials was really helpful. https://flltutorials.com/translations/en-us/Worksheets/2025PreSeasonIP.pdf
Innovation Project: By using the project sparks and their own research, your team will identify a problem to solve related to the archaeology themes and improve an existing solution or develop a new one. They’ll create a model, drawing, or prototype of their solution and share the solution’s impact through a short, live presentation.
Unearthed: The archaeology themes are meant to guide their research and teach them the process of doing research. As part of this challenge, which culminates in spring, the teams are required to do a structured research project. This involves learning keywords about the field, interviewing professional archaeologists, and identifying/citing reliable sources. Some teams may even be seeking mentors who can occasionally meet with them and provide feedback about their research projects.
The Iowa Project Archaeology coordinator, Elizabeth Reetz, created a resource page:
https://archaeology.uiowa.edu/iowa-archaeology-resources/unearthed
The Archaeological Institute of America has a resource page and is encouraging teams to watch their webinar! https://www.archaeological.org/programs/educators/first-lego-league-challenge-2025-2026/
