Joe Michaelis is doing his PhD thesis on FIRST’s effect’s on STEM at UW Madison, here’s a link to his bio: http://uwlearningsciences.org/joe-michaelis/
He conducted interviews of FIRST team members throughout their high school FIRST careers and into college, and probably beyond once they reach that point.
This is admittedly anecdotal evidence, but as a senior in an ME program right now, I can say confidently that my FIRST experiences directly give me a leg up over my peers in a lot of situations involving practical (“hands-on”) engineering. Like most engineering programs, we have lots of traditional/classroom learning, but even understanding how parts work is incredibly helpful.
For example, in our Design of Machine Elements class, lots of students didn’t really understand at first how gears and keys and retaining rings work, and the class had whole units on the design of them for fatigue and other effects.
In another example, I’m pretty sure I’m the only (or one of the only) senior in our ME department who could competently run a manual mill and lathe before taking Senior Design, and so I take the lead on a lot of the manufacturing for our Rocket Team, which competes in NASA Student Launch. I’m talking about things like designing and machining a gearbox and accompanying shafts, but also even seemingly-simple tasks like selecting gears, retaining rings, keys, and other components. Most mechanical engineering students (as far as I can tell) don’t have a ton of experience drilling, milling, turning, tapping, deburring, and assembling components on a precise level.
I realize I sound like I’m bragging, but I don’t mean to be. I consider myself very fortunate to have been a participant in FIRST, because the skills that I learned on my FRC team have directly qualified me to do things that most of my classmates are unfamiliar or uneperienced with. There is no substitute for four years of time spent in an FRC shop, learning by doing, and by making mistakes, alongside industry professionals. So, regardless of the other stats people have mentioned, I am confident that FIRST is doing a great job preparing students for engineering programs and positioning them to succeed. I don’t mean to turn this thread into a list of anecdotes about how FIRST has changed everyone’s lives personally, but I also know that my engineering education would be very different if not for FIRST, and that difference in experience is a hard thing to quantify.
I might believe that 2 per school as an Arizona statewide measurement. There are lots of schools in the State where virtually none of the parents are involved in STEM at work, and a number where lots are. One will see a correlation there alone. And I suspect that FIRST’s impact will be much higher in the first group of schools. Which is a really good thing.
I’ve had a chance to participate on a University Industrial Advisory Council (IAC). It’s given me some more perspective on the college’s side of this equation. As a recipient of a degree from a BIG state school where the first 2 years would DEFINITELY be described as “weeding” I find myself coming at this from a new angle. I found that the college is under intense pressure from the state legislature to hold degree hours to a certain number (even as the requirements to be a functional engineer increase) and graduate students in four years. If you stay too long and try to take too many credits, they have to charge you extra (Mr. Van Wilder). They also are getting grilled (at the same time) for improved student retention rates and diversity requirements.
On their way to college, I hope all mentors are doing several things for students…