FIRST Class?

[Joohoo]

We have a new course that we will be introducing a robotics course next year. I don't know what will be covered but I do know that it will not be connected to FIRST.

[Chris Marra]

My school system purchased 20+ Vex kits at the $150 price from Radioshack, along with a programming kit for each of them. The "Power" class will cover a small amount of Vex in the upcoming school year once they finish their usual curriculum, but the year after we will be offering a full-fledged Robotics class that uses the Vex kits. It will not be directly tied to our FRC/FVC teams, but there will definitely be cross-enrollment and recruiting in it. I don't think we have a curriculum for it yet however.

[Josh Murphy]

We have a class devoted to nothing but FIRST. We get graded on how well we do our jobs at the competitions and by turning in our paper work on time that is required for the team. There are also other things that we get graded on but most of the chunk is from what is listed above. It counts as a regular class in the 2nd semester for 6th hour. You get the same credit as if it was a normal class. Every team member is required to be in this class.

[coreyk]

I am assuming that you are talking about a class that manufactures a robot, and works on other award entries to compete in FIRST. With that said, our School District - with the inspiration of Cybersonics, has implemented many courses that reflect FIRST competitions, but at a much smaller scale. Students design "mini-robots" that compete in a game formulated by the instructor. AutoCad classes have also been established. Team members are not required to join these classes nor are special grades/extra credit given to members that do.

As for "in-school" building classes:

1. It would most likely be too complicated to fit in everyone's schedule, especially with a large team or a small school.
2. The course would probably have to be open to the entire student body - meaning that students not on the team could enroll. Unless special recommendation requirements are installed.
3. Most students may wish to take advantage of classes that reflect their interests while they are in school, and save the building for after school.

There's a lot of items to consider. In the end, it may be possible to construct a course for FIRST participants where the building of the robot takes place. However, complications may emerge when it comes time to scheduling - does the majority of students on the team want to take the class? Are all members able to fit it in their schedules?

-Corey

[RoboMadi]

Our FIRST program is attached with four classes.
1. Engineering Physics.
2. Physics of Technology.
3. Engineering Systems 1.
4. Engineering Systems 2.

All the classes have a 6 week project at the start of January. Its pretty much open to whatever you want to do, but most of the people choose to do FRC. At the same time, the main leadership body lies within Engineering Systems 2; theses students are graded on how they manage and organize the whole team.
Other than that we also have a community club that brings in the home schoolers and students from other high school to participate in our team.

The fun thing about this process is that if you are taking a class, your grade depends on the completion of your responsibility; so no one has to go around and boss people. Not to mention that we have designated "System Engineers Students" who analyze the whole system every year for risk management.