FIRST Class?

[Katie Hans]

At my school, we don't necessarily have a class devoted to FIRST, but we've got classes that teach how to use Inventor and CAD. I took the class that taught Inventor, and it helped me a lot.

However, my cousin told me yesterday that in his high school, there is a class where the students built a robot and brought it to competitions. He didn't know a lot of the details, but I think it's connected to FIRST. He said he was visiting the high school and saw a trophy from the Peachtree regional.

I wish I went to his school. =D

[Dylan]

Yes, WCC has a course (ROB 170) mainly devoted to building the robot.
You also get an intro to things like C programming and electronics.
I'd take it myself if I had the time.

[Dorienne]

Our school has attempted to make it a class, but to no avail. Not enough students signed up nor were apparently interested, although we had enough students each year on the team to make it a class.

I personally don't think it's smart to make it into a class in school. Sure, it'd bring more students, but the grading system would be difficult, and the "good stuff" in the class would only really be 3 months long. Students may get distracted from what FIRST really is about and concentrate really hard on the grade.

Besides, you never know what kind of kids you'll get, and if they'll be dedicated or not. I say, stick with it being an after-school activity. It shows they want to be there, and they chose to do FIRST.

[RoboMadi]

Originally Posted by Katie Hans

At my school, we don't necessarily have a class devoted to FIRST, but we've got classes that teach how to use Inventor and CAD. I took the class that taught Inventor, and it helped me a lot.

Heres another really good idea. Even though we have four classes attached to FIRST, we are trying to get as many people involve as we can. Recently our new leadership team is trying to recruit the teachers from the Web Developing Class, Programming Class (Java & C), Technical Drawings, and Advance Drawings to be part of FIRST program.
So even if you don't have a class devoted to FIRST, recruiting teachers can be a really good deal too. I was not known to FIRST, until my teacher gave me an assignment to work on which, was related to FIRST, and i got in .
Its like "bait the hook well, so the fish will bite." This is how i did it last year for my team:
"An excellent course and a great teacher is always recognized by Awards...and how cool would that be if its from F.I.R.S.T."
It worked me we got plenty of teachers involved.