Robot? 21st Century Learning? Yes, you bet. Give it a look. #FIRST, #2468, #LabVIEW, #SolidWorks

via learning20.posterous.com

Great Video and statement from Jim (@jmaklary) about his son watching the Team 624's robot at a demonstration.

Our team, Team 2468 does presentations such as this one at schools as well. It never fails for the team to come home and be so excited about the responses from the little kids and teachers. Just a Jim's son sets and watches so intrigued, the team members are captivated by the enthusiasm and excitement of the little kids.

If you have not investigated FIRST Robotics or any other robotics contest, you should. I firmly believe it is the type of learning and education we need for the future. Project based, learn by doing, work with mentors from the industry and most importantly total engagement. Failures and successes abound in these competitions. Students interact with other teams while at the same time competing with and against them.

I am so glad I was in the right place at the right time when our school began our robotics classes and contest team. It has been a tornado of activities over the past year and a half but the rewards have been huge. Just yesterday, I was working in my classroom and three students contacted me about summer activities.

Scenario one: A freshman student is getting LEGO robotics kits to use at an elementary camp to show them what robotics it and how they work. This is something he is doing on his own as a way of informing and reaching out to other students in our community.

Scenario two was a phone call: "Coach, do you have the LabVIEW disks?" That is the way the conversation started. Stevo wanted to get the LabVIEW disks to install the software at home so he could learn to program with it. No one made him call. No one is going to force him to learn the program It is something he wants to do for the team as well as himself. When is the last time you have a student call you up during the summer to get some educational material so that they could LEARN it on their own.

Scenario three is very similar to scenario two. A student has requested the Solidworks laptop or software for the summer. He came up to get the laptop so he could work thru the online tutorials. He wants to get SolidWorks certified but he knows he will have to work on his own to get there. We are provided with several industry standard software programs in the Robotics contest including SolidWorks, LabVIEW, 3D Studio Max, AutoCad, Windriver C++ and ProE. These software programs are another perk of the robotics contest. The students are exposed to industry standard systems and tools that they might never have the chance to engage in until they are in college.

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