For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology is a United States based not-for-profit organisation which aims to inspire young people to pursue science, technology and engineering careers.

Smales Farm Technology Office Park and Massey University are developing an educational robotics programme which has been shown to double the likelihood of students choosing a science or technology career.

This was our first experience of robotics and the competition. The students had a great time, learned an amazing amount and are desperate to involve other students and compete again.

There is no doubt that the authentic learning experience FIRST NZ robotics provides has huge potential in a secondary system dominated by assessment and the need to focus student learning towards predetermined outcomes.

Students had to design a robot that could score points in a game and be capable of preventing opponents from scoring. The solution to the problem could take many forms. I was struck by the potential of the activity to foster development of the key competencies in a meaningful situation.

The New Zealand Curriculum identifies five key competencies.

thinking

using language symbols and texts

managing self

relating to others

participating and contributing.

Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of of information experiences and ideas.

Students had to use all of these as they tried to make sense of the manual and develop their concept of the ideal robot. They went from zero to hero within the hour as their prototypes moved for the first time. Can’t get the same intensity in a one hour lesson somehow

Using language symbols and texts is about working with and making meaning of the codes in which knowledge is expressed.

Making sense of the drawings, instructional text and technical language was a real challenge especially when imperial units were used!

Managing self is associated with self-motivation, a “can do” attitude and with students seeing themselves as capable learners.

The competition allowed students to show enterprise in their design endeavors. They had to be resourceful as they adapted the materials provided and resilient when prototypes did not perform as anticipated.

Relating to others is about interacting with a diverse range of people in a variety of contexts.

The competition with its ethos of gracious professionalism stimulated interaction. Members of each of the two Green Bay worked cooperatively and shared ideas. In competition they had to work with a different “red team” in each round and so developed relationships with students from other schools. finalists had to chose another team to work with them in a best of three competition.

Negotiation and compromise proved to be surprisingly important where personalities and ideas clashed. One faction in the winning team wanted to add a kind of helicopter arrangement to their vehicle. The “twirly” attachment appeared to serve no useful purpose and was an unnecessary drain on battery power to their vehicle. However it did look good as the robot charged into battle.

The other faction wanted to keep the robot highly functional and saw the “helicopter” as an unhelpful addition.

Unlike the learning prescribed by tightly defined NCEA achievement.standards the outcomes of the competition could be quite unpredictable.

The decorative attachment remained part of the final design after some intense negotiation Where “gracious professionalism” became rather strained. Ultimately the twirly invention proved a match winner as it interfered with the mechanism of robots designed to lift and drop counters for high scores.

and finally participating……enough said

and more action