Class Credit for FIRST

[Nick Bouressa]

We are trying to get our school to give class credit to students on our team. And we figured that it would be nice if we could show that other teams are also giving credit to members of their team. Iv'e searched the CD and found nothing.
So if any other team has managed to get the school to give credit for participating in FIRST, we would appreciated it!


166 Background info
--------------------------------------------------------------

• Been a team since 1995.
• With the school since 2002ish.
• ~55 students.
• Won various awards GP, Quality, Chairmans.
• School has already given Science Olympiad credit. (new 2011)
• The school likes us.

[ErikEdhlund]

WildStang has given credit to the students for up to 4 years of participation from freshman to senior year.

[jvriezen]

Originally Posted by Nick Bouressa

We are trying to get our school to give class credit to students on our team. And we figured that it would be nice if we could show that other teams are also giving credit to members of their team. Iv'e searched the CD and found nothing.
So if any other team has managed to get the school to give credit for participating in FIRST, we would appreciated it!

[/list]

Team 1717 (See the book "The New Cool" by Neal Bascomb)

John Vriezen
Team 2530 "Inconceivable"
Mentor, Drive coach, Inspector

[Bob Steele]

Skunkworks Robotics (FRC 1983) gives up to 4 years of credit to students who actively participate on our FRC team
(Seattle, Washington...5th year team...) I assume this is similar to Wildstang... FRC111


let me know if I can help you..

Bob

[Nica F.]

Team 4 Element from High Tech LA High School in Lake Balboa, CA offered credit to students from 9-12th grade when I was a student, and later changed it to a class only offered to upperclassmen.

If you need any info on the way the class was organized and such let me know.
Good luck!

[maryliz:)]

We recently worked with our school administration to create a Pre-Engineering course. Juniors or Seniors on the team, in addition to logging to shop hours during build season, must also complete an engineering research project and work with one of our mentors to learn CAD in order to receive credit

[tim-tim]

Coming from both ends of the spectrum - for credit and not for credit - here are my thoughts:

My high school team, 836, does not give credit for participation

The current team I mentor, 401, does give credit for participation

The difference, while not true in all cases, the students tend to show up for a grade when they are receiving credit. I feel that there is more passion and motivation in the team that does not receive credit for their participation.

836 has team members showing up 20-30 mins ahead of time, while 401 has a relatively empty shop for the first 15-20 mins. Again, this is not going to be the same across the board, but I just want to give some caution.

Both teams have a great relationship with the school system and the community.

On a side note - I receive college credit for mentoring the team from VT. The class is a technical elective "Engineering Leadership and Management." My grade comes from teaching the students the design process and not the actual performance. I am the only one in the class with FIRST experience.

Hope this helps

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Wildstang students made a presentation to the school board back in 1997 or 98 asking for credit. The board required them to come up with a curriculum and grading method that would work for teachers and mentors. The board agreed, and now students are required to register through their counselor to be on the team. Students are checked for attendance, activity while present, a requirement to include at least three hours per week averaged over each semester, a written research project each week called "The question of the week.", etc. All adults have input, and drive team and pit crew have a minimum grade requirement for both robotics and all other classes in order to be considered. Grade also plays into travel choice. Yes, drivers have sometimes thought they were above the grade requirement and found out the hard way when they were removed from the drive team.

[Marisa A.]

Team 375 has a STEM class in which any member of the team is allowed to join. The only stipulation is that they have ninth period free (as this is the only time the class takes place), and that they are in good standing in their mandatory classes (English, Math, Sciences... etc). While any member is allowed to take this class and it replaces other electives (Unless requested by the student), we try to keep out the mentality of "well I am only going to show up when I can receive credit" by making sure that everyone realizes that they will not be offered the class again if they do not put their full efforts into the team! We can receive up to 8 credits (one for each semester) for this class. We work on robotics projects, as well as other engineering projects our team works on, such as Lemelson-MIT Inventeams. For schools not willing to implement a class, or without the manpower (or other factors), before this class was implemented, our school offered National Honor Society credits for being a participant on our team. (We still have this option, and our head mentor has to certify that you contribute to the team) If your school has an honor society, or letters, see if you can get it established for your team! They may have the equivalent significance that National Honor Society has in our school.

[Nick Bouressa]

Thanks guys!

We already have a "problem" with people who join the team just because it looks good on a collage application. So I'm not quite sure how we are going to prevent that. And we aren't quite sure exactly how we would grade people just yet. We aim to get credit for the 2012-2013 year (my senor year), its to late for 2011-2012.

Keep it coming!

[tim-tim]

How 401 is graded is based heavily off their hours logged and their design books (log books). The idea is to teach the kids the design process through competing in FIRST. I do not know all of the details, but if you like I can see if I can my hands on a copy of the syllabus for the class.

[Nick Bouressa]

Originally Posted by tim-tim

I do not know all of the details, but if you like I can see if I can my hands on a copy of the syllabus for the class.

I think we could use that. Thanks!

[Techhexium]

Right now, Abo-Amir Shaeer is collaborating with UCOP (University of California Office of the President) to offer course credit for FRC in the a-g requirements list.

In other words, there may come a day when students in all FRC teams in California affiliated with schools will receive course credit for their participation in their robotics team.

[tim-tim]

Little did i know, the answer is on the team website...
http://team401.org/robotics%20syllabus.pdf is the syllabus

And here is the general website: http://team401.org/index.html
Feel free to look around and find more info