Where is the choice for an after school class?
That's what we are. Our first semester class meets every Monday from 5:30-8:30. I believe students get a general science credit for the class, but I'm not sure. We have been talking about making the first semester class mandatory for participation second semester, but I don't know if it has happened yet.
We attempt to introduce the new students to FIRST and teach them enough about the project & team so they aren't totally lost in January. The newer students also work a mini-competition which for the past two years used drive bases & a toy connector set (can't remember the name) lent to us by the Technokats (thanks!) plus other raw materials.
We break the experienced students up into smaller groups (mechanical, electrical, software, web, animation, etc) and work on in-depth, hands-on activities. Aside from that some of the experienced students work on CDI where they design & build the bot for competition.
Second semester we meet every Monday for announcements and to summarize what each sub-team has done the past week. Each team obviously meets as required on other nights. Most of the work & learning is done in each sub-team's meetings.
Attendence & participation are tacked at each meeting and both play a part in determining students' grades.
Any questions?
Mike