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College FIRST Program Workshop
WELCOME!
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Our Goals• Cultivate new college and university affiliated
FIRST programs• Share "Best Practices“ and experiences • Form a network of Colleges and Universities
– Link graduating seniors to college and university programs
– Share curriculum resources– Initiate college and university programs
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Deb Grubbe
President and Owner of Safety Solutions, LLC
FIRST Board Member
FIRST® for LIFEMaking University FIRST® Work!
Deborah Grubbe, PE
Atlanta, GA
16 April 2010
K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
FIRST® LEGO® League
“T-Ball” “Little League” “Intermediate Program”
“Major League”
FIRST® Family of Programs
Jr. FIRST® LEGO® League
FIRST® Robotics Competition
FIRST® Tech Challenge
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Organization & Programs
Mission is to INSPIRE, not EDUCATE
BUT look at what is involved:
Math (algebra, geometry, trig, calculus)
Science (physics, chemistry, experimentation)
Language arts (writing, public speaking)
Business (marketing, PR, fundraising)
Finance (accounting)
Computer Science (programming, 3D animation)
Environmental Projects (Green Energy Audits, electronics recycling)
Fabrication (woodworking, metalworking)
Mentorship: Working side-by-side with professionals
Teamwork6
Organization & Programs
FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®): 2010 season
1,809 teams
Over 45,000 high-school-aged students
Average 25 students per team
44 regional competitions
6 weeks to design, build, and test robots
FIRST® Robotics Competition Team Growth
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Goal: lower-cost, more accessible program
1,300 teams (projected)
13,000 high-school-age students
60 Qualifying Events and Championship Tournaments and 3 Pilots
U.S., Canada, Holland, and Mexico
Growth
Organization & Programs
FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC®): 2009 season
FIRST Tech Challenge Team Growth
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Organization & Programs
FIRST® LEGO® League (FLL®):
2009 Season
14,600 teams (projected) 146,000 middle-school-age students 50+ countries 450+ qualifying events 85+ Championship tournaments 1,500 Junior FIRST ® LEGO ®
League (Jr.FLL®) teams for 6 to 9 year-olds
FIRST ® LEGO ® League Team Growth
Outside US and Canada
US and Canada
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Establishing a Continuum
Corporations
Colleges & Universities
Grade Schools JFLL (1-4)
FLL (4-8)
High SchoolsFTC
FRC
Mentorship
Career Interest
Enrollment
Volunteering & Sponsorship
Objective is to increase
Interest in Science and
Technology careers
Mentorship
Qualified New Hires
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FIRST Robotics Competition March Madness
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FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®)
2005 study
Conducted by Brandeis University FRC alumni from mainly low-income,
urban schools
Comparison group: students with similar backgrounds in high school math and science
Impact
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Education in Science & Technology
FIRST® Students vs. Comparison Group
Seek Education in Science &Technology Students are 50% more likely to go on to college Twice as likely to major in science or engineering More than three times as likely to major specifically in engineering
Impact
Source: Brandeis University, Center for Youth and Communities, Heller School for Social Policy and Management 13
FIRST® Students vs. Comparison Group Earn Career Opportunities:
Almost ten times more likely to have internship Expect to Pursue Science & Technology Careers:
More than twice as likely to pursue S&T career Nearly four times as likely to pursue career specifically in engineering
Source: Brandeis University, Center for Youth and Communities, Heller School for Social Policy and Management
ImpactCareers in Science & Technology
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A school in trouble. Then…
FIRST® team started (including 5 young women) all graduated, all received scholarships
Enrollment from 900 to 1,400
Attendance rates from 60% to 82%
“Just 5 years ago…an urban school…slated for closing. We’ve become the science / engineering magnet school… More students try out for FIRST® team than football and basketball combined.”
East Technical High School, Cleveland, OH
Case History
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Strategic Plan: Growth Goals
Prototype
Pro
duct
ion
After, 19 years, FIRST ® is in 8% of U.S. High Schools; now that the model is proven, we want to accelerate the future growth.
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Over 130 universities provide more than $12 million in scholarship opportunities and host events, including:
Scholarships
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Provide financial support To FIRST ®
To events To teams For a specific purpose, such as the
FIRST Underserved Initiative Provide equipment for kit of parts,
field components Provide facilities for teams & event
Involve employees As mentors to teams As volunteers at events As consultants to FIRST
Offer scholarships Provide internships Customized approach
Ways to be Involved
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Building a Local FIRST ® Community
Business Government
Education
Social Investors
Model for Success
Community
Mentors Volunteers Fundraising
Teachers Facilities Scholarships
Funding Research
Volunteers Organizations
Policy Support Recognition Funding
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William Butler Yeats
Inspiring the Next Generation
“Education is not filling a pail; it is lighting a fire.”
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Conference Program
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Benefits of a College FIRST Program
• Presentation– Why should we have a college FIRST program?– "Best Practices" and experiences of some
successful college programs• Worcester Polytechnic Institute• Clarkson University• Purdue FIRST Programs
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Getting Your College or University Involved
• Presentation– Explanation of the four key stake holders
• College Students• Faculty/ Administration• Local Community/ Schools• Sponsors
• Panel Discussion
Breakout Session Option 1
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Sustaining and Growing a College FIRST Program
• Small Group Discussion– Growing a program– Organizational structure– Transfer of Information from year to year– Demonstrating benefits to stakeholders– Importance of data
Breakout Session Option 2
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Fundraising, Institutional Support and Connecting with Community
• Presentation– Being strategic and flexible– Working with the university
• Administration viewpoint• Team viewpoint
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Closing Remarks• Woodie Flowers• Establish working group
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Benefits of a College FIRST Program
Share of “Best Practices” and experiences of some successful
college programs
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Clarkson University
Experience sustaining and growing a college FIRST Program
Presented by the students associated with the Clarkson FIRST Robotics SPEED Team
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Background Information• Clarkson University is a private, doctoral-level
research institution located in Potsdam, NY:– 2,700 undergraduates and 400 graduate students
• The Wallace H. Coulter School of Engineering's endowed SPEED (Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design) program provides multidisciplinary, hands-on learning opportunities for more than 250 undergraduates annually
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Background Information• SPEED project experiences:
– are open to all undergraduate students across all majors
– serve to increase the engagement of women and students of color
– involve engineering design and analysis, fabrication and the enhancement of professional competencies such as budget management, effective teamwork and communication skills
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Background Information• Many of the SPEED project opportunities stem from
national engineering design competitions at the collegiate level; some, like the FIRST Robotics team, center around service learning-based outreach:– Clarkson students mentoring regional K-12 students– the FIRST Robotics SPEED team (FRC Team 229) involves
~30 Clarkson and ~40 local area high school students each year with an annual budget of ~$30K
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Origins of the FIRST SPEED Team• Founded in 1998 to support a local FRC team• Two local high schools emerged as partners:
– the Massena and Salmon River Central School Districts
• Successful partnerships require at least one “champion” in each participating institution, e.g.:– technology teachers Bernie Bissonnette (at
Massena) and Chuck Raiti (at Salmon River)
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Evolution of the FIRST SPEED Team• Team 229 took at few years to understand the FRC
program and its unique team dynamic, e.g.:– undergraduate mentors who often came from successful
FRC teams and, as a result, had strong (often conflicting) thoughts about how to best run a team or design robots
• The team adopted a leadership structure and set of operational policies in 2002 that included mechanisms for continuous improvement:– based on a service learning course, MT214/MP414, open
to all students and offered each semester
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Evolution of the FIRST SPEED Team• Team 229 won their first regional competition in
2004 and began steady success thereafter; expanding operations in 2007 to include outreach at the FIRST FLL and FTC levels
• Today, the Clarkson FIRST SPEED team supports FIRST programs, JFLL through FRC, including hosting a Championship FLL and FTC Tournament on Clarkson’s campus each Dec., as well as in-class use of FLL/FTC technology, impacting 15 local school districts:– this expanded outreach is done with the strong support of
Clarkson’s Office of Educational Partnerships
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Facilitating Expanded Outreach• The Northern New York Robotics Institute (NNYRI)
was formed in 2007, consisting of faculty/staff from:– Clarkson, Saint Lawrence University, SUNY Potsdam, SUNY
Canton, SUNY Jefferson Community College and the Saint Lawrence-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services (SLL-BOCES)
– The NNYRI has successfully received STEM grants from a variety of sources, e.g., New York State Education Dept.
– As a result of these activities, over 60 local area teachers have received week-long summer professional development courses on how to coach FLL/FTC teams as well as transition the technology into the classroom
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Sustaining the Outreach Effort• In 2007, the SLL-BOCES, in conjunction with the
NNYRI, leveraged the state aid reimbursement formula to allow school districts to participate in FIRST’s robotics programs as well as the Clarkson hosted FLL/FTC tournaments– these districts are eligible for partial reimbursement of the
program costs, e.g., through a Robotics Exploratory Enrichment Cooperative Services Agreement (CoSer)
– 15 of 18 school districts in the SLL-BOCES district participate in the Robotics CoSer, averaging about 70% state reimbursement of program costs
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Remote Mentoring & Drop-In Clinics• In order make outreach feasible over a large
geographic area, an IP-based remote mentoring system was created where Clarkson mentors are able to support teachers and their students at their respective schools without leaving Clarkson campus
• To solve problems requiring face-to-face contact with Clarkson’s FLL- and FTC-trained faculty and students, schools are given the opportunity to come to Clarkson once every other week during the fall competition season to help debug problems they may be having
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Robotics Living-Learning Community• For the 2009-2010 school year, Clarkson’s Residence
Life staff and the FIRST SPEED team advisor developed a themed housing option to support the robotics related outreach:– Freshman and Sophomore students willing to dedicate 3
hours per week to robotics-related outreach activities– upper-class students serve as mentors to the LLC– students enjoy access to special programming and other
resources designed to enhance their interest in robotics and build the community dynamic
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The Integrated Design (ID) Team• A selected group of senior Mechanical, Electrical or
Computer Engineering students enrolled in Clarkson’s capstone design courses, e.g., ME445
• The ID team provides the FIRST SPEED team with access to a group of capable and highly-motivated students who have acquired the skills necessary to help facilitate a quality design and build process
• This relationship provides ID team members with experience not only in engineering design and manufacturing but also in real-world client/supplier relationships
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FRC Design/Build Process Overview
KICKOFF
“Whats” “Hows”
Design Requirements
Design
Design Review
Prints Made & Materials
Ordered
Manufacturing
Assembly
Completed Robot
Complete FIRST Team (CU and high school)
ID Team (capstone CU design students)
Key
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WPI and FIRST
When, How, Why?By Ken Stafford
Director, Robotics Resource Center
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
In the beginning…
• 1992: Dean asked WPI to get involved– Committed to team sponsorship
• 1996: Awarded the inaugural FIRST scholarship
• 1998: Hired staff member to manage effort (me!)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
WPI/Mass Acad Team 190
• Nineteen-year veteran—since 1992
• Highly respected and awarded
• 2010 team, 150 strong!
• Year-round program– Competitions– Demonstrations– Mentorship
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
WPI/Burncoat HS Team 1735
• Five-year veteran—since 2006
• High-spirited team—building respect
• From an at-risk
urban school
• 1-2 WPI Mentors/6-9
students
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
On Campus Tournaments
• Since 1998: 53 tournaments/1383 teams/15000 students– Savage Soccer: mini-FIRST experience– BattleCry@WPI: Premier FRC offseason– RoboNautica: State FLL Championship– WPI Regional: Official FRC Flex Event
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Savage Soccer
• 14th year of this WPI-unique, student-run tournament
• Low cost platform, zero cost tournament
• 60-70 Middle/high school teams
• Exported through “EBOT” site
• One day event in early Dec
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
BattleCry@WPI (BC11)
• Started as 26-team event in 2000
• Now 48-team event (will grow to 60 with the new Rec Center!)
• Most popular off-season competition
• Over 1200 competitors and spectators
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
RoboNautica
• LEGO® Mindstorms-based robots for 9-14 year olds
• Began as local tournament in 2001 • Became State Championship
FLL Tournament in 2002• One-day event in mid December• Now attracts 64 teams/500 competitors
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
The WPI Regional
• An official FIRST qualifier (1 of 43)
• 3-day event scheduled 11-13 Mar 2010
• Designed to be model for other universities
• 30-36 high school teams (will grow to 60 with the new Rec Center!)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Summer Robot Camps• Frontiers: Started in 2002 for rising 11th/12th
grades—2 week residence– From onset, most popular Frontiers program– Expanded to 50-student Frontiers II in 2009
• Launch: Started in 2006 for rising 9th/10th grades—1-week day camp
• JRC: Started in 2008 for 4th-8th grades –now four separate 1-week day camps
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Other Involvements
• Academic projects
• Technical Source for FIRST– Author WPIlib– Host FIRST Think Tank (
http://first.wpi.edu/index.html)
• Overall FIRST Contributions
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
University Outcomes
• Low investment—high reward– ~$40K /yr team support– 11% of 2010 freshmen were FIRST team– 6-8 students/yr say it was deciding factor– 1000’s of students visit campus– National exposure
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
FIRST Robotics• For Inspiration and Recognition of
Science and Technology
“…science and technology are
celebrated, …kids think science
is cool and dream of becoming
science and technology heroes.” –D. Kamen
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Purdue FIRST Programs
History and ImpactBy Kristofer Lindqvist, Vice President
of Purdue FIRST
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How it Began• Spring 1999
– Associate Dean Warren Stevenson + couple faculty members and graduate students visited FIRST National Championship at the Walt Disney Epcot Center in Orlando
• Fall 1999 – Spring 2000– Purdue Student Engineering Foundation (PSEF)
Engineering Outreach Team working with West Lafayette High School technology teacher Mr. Steve Florence at started the Purdue FIRST Program’s first FRC team, Team 461 Westside Boiler Invasion.
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A Brief Timeline of PFP
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Organizational Structure
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ME 297: FIRST Leadership Class• 2 credit-hour course required for all members• Fall classes split into 2 categories
– Core Classes: Required for all members• Examples: Representing PFP, Communication, Fundraising
– Elective Classes: Members choose from 1 of 3 sessions being offered
• Examples: Surviving College, FIRST Drivetrains, Scouting, Intro to Six Sigma, Feedback Control
• Spring Classes are primarily lectures for the entire program and aimed at internal improvement projects– A less-structured spring allows for greater flexibility with build
and competition season
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The Boilermaker Regional• 40-Team Regional held at Purdue annually
– Bring hundreds of prospective engineering students to campus each year
– PFP works with the Office of Engagement at Purdue to organize campus tours for prospective students and parents
• Examples Include tours of the Nuclear Reactor, Earthquake lab, and wind tunnels.
• PFP Director of Regional Development sits on the Regional Planning Committee
• PFP requisitions over half the cost of the regional• All members, excluding seniors, are required to volunteer if not on
an FRC team