January 30, 2008
Column #1,379
Advance for Feb. 2, 2008
Teaching Science & Gracious Professionalism
by Mike McManus
BALTIMORE - Last Saturday I witnessed 700 kids aged 9-14 competing with
shrieks of delight and joy in contests with robots that they had
constructed. There were no tears by the losers. Why?
Really, all were winners. As one girl exulted, "It will help me to be a
better person. I can set higher goals for myself and learn to achieve
them better because I know I can do it." She even saw how what she
learned could make her employable. "I want to support myself, so I don't
have to depend on other people. I can help support my family when I have
one."
Coming in first is less important than learning one can build a robot
out of LEGOS that will move in any direction, push plastic trees from
one side of the board to another, pick up a model car and move it, lasso
three rings of "corn stalks" and move them, place a "hydro-dam" over
both banks of a section of a river drawn on the board plus seven similar
tasks.
And do all this in 2.5 minutes! As two students manipulate the robot,
five to eight members of each team cheer from the sidelines.
Marco Ciavolino, a proud father of several students competing in
different age groups and a computer scientist who coached four "FIRST
LEGO League" teams (Techbrick.com), asserted, "It turns out that humans
like a really tough challenge. FIRST has proven unambiguously that if
you create an environment in which the right stuff is celebrated, they
compete like crazy, but treat each other well in the process. It is a
really good thing."
Students are not told how to build the robots, but are sent a box of
parts with no instructions. Each robot looks different. One had rings
that could be lowered to lasso corn stalks, while others used a clip-on
L-shaped arm.
This year the students also had to conduct an energy audit of a building
in their city and advise its owners how to reduce its energy
consumption. Calvert Junior High School students told a library it could
save 35% of its electric bill by turning off computers not in use.
Homeschoolers in Harford County built a replica of an 1870 boarding
house, examined an updated version, and quantified the value of various
forms of insulation.
This year there are 10,000 FIRST LEGO teams in 38 countries with 106,000
students and a junior version for 5,000 6-9 year-olds. There are 1,500
FIRST Robotics Competition teams of 37,500 high school kids who build
large robots with 400 parts costing tens of thousands that race around a
26 foot by 54 foot track, pushing balls over and under an overpass.
After statewide competitions, 10,000 kids go to the Georgia Dome for
National Championships. The competition is not just about skill in
manipulating robots, but also about that year's research project, the
kids' ability to describe the design aspects of research and robots and
the teamwork of each group.
One father said, "Ten or 20 years from today some of these kids will
cure AIDS or cancer. Some will win a Nobel Prize or build an engine that
does not pollute. Probably one of them will do something spectacular
they would not have done it without this. These kids are the future,
and we are part of it by helping them figure out what to do with their
lives."
However, how many schools are getting kids excited about math and
science?
One African American boy summed up the problem succinctly: "There are
way too many kids saying I want to go into the NBA or the NFL. I don't
hear kids saying, "I want to be an engineer."
That's what troubled Dean Kamen, founder of FIRST (For Inspiration and
Recognition of Science and Technology). He is a physicist, entrepreneur
and inventor, best known for the Segway PT, an electronic self-balancing
human transporter used by airport police. He created IBOT, a wheelchair
that can go up steps, the first insulin pump, and has 400 patents.
His vision for FIRST is "to transform our culture by creating a world
where science and technology are celebrated. We are helping young people
see scientists and engineers in the same light as their traditional
heroes in sports and entertainment." How? "Giving kids a hands-on
experience that allows them to use their imaginations and creativity in
combination with science and technology to solve a real-world problem is
empowering."
He says it also fosters "well-rounded life capabilities including
self-confidence, communication and leadership." He's raised $28 million
from corporations for this work.
Why not get your school to compete next year? Go to USFIRST.org.
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