The meaning behind the game.......

[archiver]

Posted by Chris Hibner at 04/12/2001 5:14 PM EST


Coach on team #308, Walled Lake Monster, from Walled Lake Schools and TRW Automotive Electronics.


In Reply to: Re: The meaning behind the game.......
Posted by Justin Hirt on 04/10/2001 2:34 PM EST:



(or "~= bad" for MATLAB buffs)

But seriously...

Teams run by engineers is not a bad thing. In fact, it was the original intention of FIRST. The package that we got from FIRST when we started our team 5 years ago stated that students should get a feel for the engineering process by observing and working with engineers. The students should learn what engineering is about from the engineers. If the students do all of the work, how are they supposed to learn about the engineering process, or what engineers do?

Student run teams can be good - don't get me wrong. However, wrong lessons can also be learned. One thing that can be learned is that engineering is not necessary, since a robot can be hacked. I think the original intent of FIRST is to show how engineers use the tools of math and science to design a great robot. Hacking a robot isn't nearly as inspirational, nor does it show the benefit of math and science.

The original intent of FIRST is to show that engineers can be looked up to like kids look up to athletes. They want the engineers to be role models for the students. No engineers == no role models.

Overall, I think a good balance needs to be found which maximizes the students' interest, involvement, and inspiration -- all are important.