Several years ago I found myself the mom of two amazing kids with lots of interest in making stuff. The practicality of continuing to build paper airplanes was not going well. Our kids loved to build. They built LEGOS since they could walk, but they wanted more.
They wanted the LEGO Robotics set.
Those are about $300 by the way. At the time, it was completely out of the question. I feared expensive parts being lost, broken, eaten by the dog.
But beyond that, I wasn't sure my kids would actually build anything with it. Also, I worried about how that would go being one robot and my two kids.
The box said age 10+ became my excuse. Thank you LEGO for that.
I know some time around this, I was internet surfing and came across FIRST. I started to read online about it and how kids love it. I was starting to formulate a new plan. A friend mentioned he did FIRST in High School, in Florida, and won it. The big it. The Championship in FRC is what I know now.
Then I didn't know what that meant. But, I knew he was encouraging me to look into it.
So I did more internet research. I found out that the EV3 was going to be released in the next year.
So we waited, knowing how technology/platform changes affect all kinds of things. We figured newer was better and no need to buy into the old product line. Getting replacement parts could become a challenge.
Finally, we were ready. We had a 6th grader and a 5th grader and 6 of their super excited friends. We got our table built and field kit set up. And from there it pretty much seems like a blur. The kids worked hard that year. We were completely unaware of whether we were on target or spinning our wheels, but we managed to have fun. Some kids came by to see what we were up to. One didn't feel it was right for them. At the end of our season we invited neighborhood kids to come see what we were all doing in our basement. It was a creepy, dark, wet, cold built-in-1888 basement, but they didn't care. They were getting to do something no one else was doing but them: build a robot for a competition from LEGOS, create a real world solution, go out in the community and tell people about their team and their work, and they learned to ask for financial support, sometimes from strangers (with adults there). I told the kids things like "Bill Gates started his company in his garage, there's no reason we can't start in the basement." Somehow that first year was truly magical.
Everything was as open ended as possible. If they wanted to do something, I let them. If they needed to go somewhere, we went. It was chaotic and loud and busy and there was lots of pizza ordered. They are kids after all. But in it's purest essence I believe they were learning to be learners together. To find their own feet, to ask good questions, to not give up, to recognize the joy in difficult things. Also, how to rely on each others strengths. In order to truly do that, you need to know each other. When you know each other, and know each others strengths, you can work very effectively together.
That is what they can do now.
After 3 years.
Not so much then, that first year. These things take time you know.
People are often bowled over by my energy and enthusiasm about FIRST. It is awesome for lots and lots of reasons. It stirs the passion for effort and learning in an intrinsic way. The students who get inspired and "catch the FIRST bug" really take off with it and run. You will struggle to keep up with those ones. Most of all, every student who does FIRST, sees a whole new way of doing things that is so different and so BIG, it gives them that infinite learning experience, and helps them recognize the importance and value of their efforts. It's the "I didn't know what I didn't know" experience. You will always be learning, never a complete master in FIRST. And it's just fun. It's fun to be around these amazing students.
They wanted the LEGO Robotics set.
Those are about $300 by the way. At the time, it was completely out of the question. I feared expensive parts being lost, broken, eaten by the dog.
But beyond that, I wasn't sure my kids would actually build anything with it. Also, I worried about how that would go being one robot and my two kids.
The box said age 10+ became my excuse. Thank you LEGO for that.
I know some time around this, I was internet surfing and came across FIRST. I started to read online about it and how kids love it. I was starting to formulate a new plan. A friend mentioned he did FIRST in High School, in Florida, and won it. The big it. The Championship in FRC is what I know now.
Then I didn't know what that meant. But, I knew he was encouraging me to look into it.
So I did more internet research. I found out that the EV3 was going to be released in the next year.
So we waited, knowing how technology/platform changes affect all kinds of things. We figured newer was better and no need to buy into the old product line. Getting replacement parts could become a challenge.
Finally, we were ready. We had a 6th grader and a 5th grader and 6 of their super excited friends. We got our table built and field kit set up. And from there it pretty much seems like a blur. The kids worked hard that year. We were completely unaware of whether we were on target or spinning our wheels, but we managed to have fun. Some kids came by to see what we were up to. One didn't feel it was right for them. At the end of our season we invited neighborhood kids to come see what we were all doing in our basement. It was a creepy, dark, wet, cold built-in-1888 basement, but they didn't care. They were getting to do something no one else was doing but them: build a robot for a competition from LEGOS, create a real world solution, go out in the community and tell people about their team and their work, and they learned to ask for financial support, sometimes from strangers (with adults there). I told the kids things like "Bill Gates started his company in his garage, there's no reason we can't start in the basement." Somehow that first year was truly magical.
Everything was as open ended as possible. If they wanted to do something, I let them. If they needed to go somewhere, we went. It was chaotic and loud and busy and there was lots of pizza ordered. They are kids after all. But in it's purest essence I believe they were learning to be learners together. To find their own feet, to ask good questions, to not give up, to recognize the joy in difficult things. Also, how to rely on each others strengths. In order to truly do that, you need to know each other. When you know each other, and know each others strengths, you can work very effectively together.
That is what they can do now.
After 3 years.
Not so much then, that first year. These things take time you know.
People are often bowled over by my energy and enthusiasm about FIRST. It is awesome for lots and lots of reasons. It stirs the passion for effort and learning in an intrinsic way. The students who get inspired and "catch the FIRST bug" really take off with it and run. You will struggle to keep up with those ones. Most of all, every student who does FIRST, sees a whole new way of doing things that is so different and so BIG, it gives them that infinite learning experience, and helps them recognize the importance and value of their efforts. It's the "I didn't know what I didn't know" experience. You will always be learning, never a complete master in FIRST. And it's just fun. It's fun to be around these amazing students.