June, 2013
www.us-tech.com
Robotics Program Prepares Students for Life
Continued from previous page
to apply what they have learned in school. While in the classroom, many students ask the age-old question, “When will I ever use this?” FIRST Robotics answers that question by teaching them how to apply mechan- ics, force and motion, coupled with computer programming to solve everyday problems. The result: 89 percent indicate that they have achieved a better understanding of the role of science and technology in everyday life. While competing companies
rarely volunteer to help each other, FIRST Robotics teaches a much dif- ferent lesson — including its princi-
ment as during the build season, stu- dents regularly log 20 to 40 hours a week working on the robot in the af- terschool setting. This is in addition to the time they spend in class and doing homework. They learn that other peo- ple count on them to accomplish their task, just like in a real job.
Dealing with Crises Everyone dreads the phone call
at 4:50 p.m. on a Friday. People in the workplace spend part, if not most, of their day with one crisis af- ter another. The students learn the importance of problem-solving. With the robot, there are components that interfere with each other, items that just do not work as expected, and there are unforeseen prob- lems that arise. Every student has input on how to overcome challenging issues. The result: 93 percent of the participating students indicate that they have learned how to solve un- expected problems or how to find a new or better way of do- ing things, and 94 percent have learned to weigh issues and options before making de- cisions. Participating students
Junior Mitch Woodside fine-tunes computer program.
pal themes of “gracious professional- ism” and “coopertition”. Gracious professionalism encourages high- quality work, but emphasizes the value of others, and respects individ- uals and the community. The second theme, coopertition,
is a philosophy that FIRST teams can and should help and cooperate with each other even as they compete against each other. During the com- petitions, teams loan tools, technical expertise and parts to one another even though they will be competing against each other. The teams open- ly share design ideas and how to overcome technical challenges with other teams. While winning is a goal, it is not everything. It is more impor- tant to help other teams win as well. During competitions, opposing robots will turn over an upside-down oppo- nent all in the name of gracious pro- fessionalism. With companies competing on a
global scale, teamwork is now more important than ever. The participat- ing students learn the importance of teamwork; every person has a job on the robotics team that is crucial to the success of the team. Whether the student works on design, fabrication or programming of the robot, Web page design, game field construction, or brochure construction to get the word out, the success of the entire team depends on them. According to 95 percent of participants, students say that FIRST Robotics has given them a better understanding of the importance of teamwork. Eighty-nine percent of the stu-
dents say they had real responsibili- ties and 74 percent indicated that stu- dents made the important decisions. With the success of the entire team riding on the shoulders of each team member, the students willingly give up their Saturdays to ensure the suc- cess of the team. They learn very ear- ly the importance of time manage-
build confidence by learning how to apply what they know to real world situations. At
the end of the season, they are able to look at a robot that they designed, fabricated, constructed, tested and then used in competition. Eighty- nine percent of FIRST students say that the program has increased their self confidence. Contact: Sherrie Comer, Cam-
denton R-III Afterschool Services Director, Camdenton RIII Schools, Camdenton, MO E-mail:
scomer@camdentonschools.org or Jim Jackson, PE, Lake Professional Engineering Services, Inc., E-mail:
jimjacksonjr@charter.net r
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