Teachers, assessment and FRC

[Jon Stratis]

FIRST. For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, that inspire innovation, and that foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership.

That says nothing about teaching them science literacy. Sure, you'll grow that as part of everything else, but the main point of FIRST is to get kids excited about science and technology. To get them passionate. To show them that there are role models other than the sports players, actors, and musicians that get all of our TV time. It's not about teaching kids physics and math. It's about guiding them towards wanting to learn those things on their own.

I'm sure everyone says this about their team, but I truly believe it's nowhere more apparent than on a team like the one I work with - an all girls team. With this team, you really see the growth of every student. They start out with practically no knowledge - It's not that they haven't taken physics or calculus yet, it's that they don't know basic concepts or skills like how to operate a drill. Without this program, they could go through school and might enjoy math or physics, but be completely unaware of the potential life paths those classes open up to them.

My High School didn't have FIRST. In fact, still don't. Looking back on it, I know it wasn't anything I did in High School that inspired me to become an engineer. If you were to go simply by what I did in High School, I'd be off somewhere trying to scrape up minimum wage playing the Saxophone. It was a single teacher back in 5th grade that set my path by offering an after school programming class. That's it - an after school activity that inspired me to become what I am today. That activity didn't increase my science literacy... but it inspired me to keep looking into programming on my own over the following 7 years, and eventually go to college for it. That's what FIRST is all about. I just wish I had it back when I was in school.