Denying Students into class

[artdutra04]

Don't make preconceived notions about the students. All students should have equal opportunities to learn.

Let them into the class. Introduce them to robotics, teach them. It make take some extra effort to teach them, and it may take an alternative channel to reach them, but be patient. If you are looking to teach higher level robotics concepts in the main course, then you should also have an intro level course in which you can refer them to.

If they express absolutely no interest in learning - or even attempting to learn - then you can ask them to leave the class if they are disrupting the class for those students who are interested in learning.

But just be cautious of falling into the "every student should perform the same" idea of No Child Left Behind. Some students will learn faster than others, and some will learn better through some methods (lectures, reading, hands-on labs, etc.) than others. Instead of expecting all to always achieve the same level, you should instead seek to challenge all students at levels equal to their learning speed/methods.

Education is one area where "one size fits all" never applies, so try not to mistake a slower learning student who struggles with some concepts for one who expresses no interest in learning them. Also realize that while not all students in FIRST will go into engineering professions, all of them will use the knowledge and skills learned through FIRST to better their lives, no matter what their ultimate career choice is.