This curriculum guide is designed to be used with the LEGO® Mindstorms® NXT base set robot and the LEGO® Mindstorms® NXT software v 2.1 purchased from the LEGO® online store (http://www.lego.com). There are other NXT robots available through other vendors, but some of these kits do not have the same components as the base set LEGO® kit. The part number for the Mindstorms® NXT robot is EE979797 while the software part number is EE900080.

The curriculum provided in this guide is for the instructor; however, the guide may be edited for youth participants depending on the teaching strategy, objectives and venue of the program. For example, the instructor can give the participants the challenge instructions as text only, an abbreviated programming guide (See challenges tab) or a full programming guide. If participants are given the text only, the instructor will need to have more direct teaching time to describe the programming blocks and the details of downloading the program from the computer to the robot. Each lesson is given a difficulty rating in stars. The scale is from one star to five stars, with one star indicating a lesson that is easy and five stars indicating difficult.

The full pictorial programming guide can be given to youth directly, however this in only recommended if the instructor has very little time for the session, for instance, if the program is a marketing event for a robotics camp or club project. It might also be helpful to give youth the full programming guide for the first activity as part of a longer session. In this instance, the instructor should take time for the group to discuss each programming block and the variables associated with the programming, since the youth will not develop this understanding by using the complete pictorial guide alone. In most cases, the instructor will use the text only or a subset of the abbreviated programming guide.

The abbreviated and complete pictorial guides provide examples of solutions to complete the challenges. It is important to remember that there are multiple ways to successfully complete challenges and youth are encouraged to be creative with their programming. It is also important to recognize that the numbers for duration, etc. provided within the complete pictorial guide are estimates. The robot will perform differently under different conditions. Examples of performance variables are described in the Distance and Turns Instructor Guide.