Discontinuation of Lego Mindstorms presents school with planning uncertainty
Lego had announced the end of support for the Mindstorms Education EV3 app. Schools are still using the kits in lessons. Now the all-clear has been given.
Pupils have been gaining their first programming experience with the Mindstorms Education EV3 since 1998.
(Image: AlesiaKan / Shutterstock.com)
Two years ago, Lego discontinued its Mindstorms product series, which many schools have in their cupboards. The Danish brick manufacturer promised support for the software for the construction kit for programmable robots for a further two years- until August 2024 according to its website. This poses a problem for schools: can they still use the system to teach computer science or do they have to rely on an alternative?
With Mindstorm Education EV3, children and young people can playfully learn how to build robots that they program themselves. The young computer science enthusiasts can bring the robot to life via an app. Until the summer vacations, however, it was not clear whether Lego Education would continue to offer support for this app.
Uncertainty makes planning for the new school year difficult
The uncertainty also caused the Maria Montessori Comprehensive School in Düsseldorf a stomach ache during the summer vacations: "We have at least a dozen of these bricks and a lot of accessories in our school," says IT assistant Jürgen Adloff. Although the school also works with Calliope, the devices are not enough for the third year of compulsory computer science lessons. Adloff would like to continue using the existing Mindstorms. "We want to give the pupils access to programming and more can be done with the Mindstorms than with Calliope," says the IT assistant.
If Lego does not continue its support, the school could still switch to Open Roberta Lab - an open source solution from the Fraunhofer Institute. But here, too, the question is whether the Lab will still support Mindstorms Education EV3 after Lego discontinues support. If not, Adloff is worried: "Then that's it." This is a major annoyance for the IT assistant and the school, as the uncertainty about continued support also affects lesson planning: if support for the Mindstorms EV3 system is discontinued in the middle of the school year, the planning for an entire semester may be invalidated. "Few teachers would be prepared to offer 'Programming with Mindstorms EV3' in lessons in this unclear situation," emphasizes Adloff. "What we need is planning security."
A concern that a spokesperson for the Roberta initiative of the Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems can at least partially allay for the IT assistant. "As long as the implementation is technically possible, we will support the system." However, this is only possible as long as the operating system on which the hardware is based does not have any security vulnerabilities. "We are reliant on the community here. The Open Roberta Lab can rely on a strong open source community in which people come together and develop solutions together," explains the spokesperson. Should the Open Roberta Lab nevertheless have to discontinue a system, the initiative will try to take the schools' needs into account. A discontinuation would therefore take place at the end of the school year if possible. "In exceptional cases where this is not possible, we will try to find an alternative solution to enable operation to continue for a certain period of time - for example within a six-month timeframe."
Lego extends its support
When asked by heise online, Lego Global has now also confirmed that support will continue for the time being: "We are pleased to announce that we have extended access to the Lego Mindstorms Education EV3 app." The app will now be available for iOS, Android and Chromebook, Windows 10 and MacOS until July 31, 2026.
Jürgen Adloff is delighted with the news: "It's really good news that even the manufacturer itself is sticking with it." He sees a good chance of being able to equip all twelve computer science classes with devices - some with Calliope, others with Lego. "We don't want to win the First Lego League Challenge, we want to introduce the children to programming - once they have tasted blood, they really invest a lot of time and enthusiasm."
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