FIRST Robotics In VA Schools:Making a Lasting Impact on Academic

Trajectories

Nate Laverdure

A Presentation To:Virginia Department of Education

Division of Technology & Career Education

FIRST Lego League

FIRST Tech Challenge

FIRST Robotics Competition

(For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)

2007 Competition: “Rack & Roll”

2002 Competition: “Zone Zeal”

2006 Competition: “Aim High”

2005 Competition: “Triple Play”

FIRST is Expanding

37,000 Students

1,500 Teams from 8 countries and every state in the U.S.

41 Regional Events in Brazil, Canada, Israel, U.S.

FIRST 2007 Annual Report

FIRST is Making an Impact

2005 Independent study by Brandeis UniversityFunded by the Ford Foundation

Why are Science and Technology Careers Important

in VA?An engineering gap?

In an apples-to-apples comparison, the US stillconfers more four-year engineering degrees thanIndia, and its gap with China is less than half ofwhat other reports suggest.ENGINEERING U.S.* INDIA CHINA

Bachelor’s Degrees 137,437 112,000351,537

Associate degrees 84,898 103,000292,569

(or equivalent**)*US figures adjusted to reflect more inclusive measures usedby India**Three-year diplomas in India; short-cycle degrees in China

China graduates twice as many engineers as U.S.

Important to a sustainable & independent economy

Image: Christian Science Monitor;Data: Duke University Study

Image: “Construction of the Three Gorges Dam” by Flickr user H@r@ld (some rights reserved)

Image: Millau Viaduct (in public domain)

Image: Venetian Buildings by The Triple Bottom Line Blog; wwwgetsustainable.net (all rights reserved)

Why are Science and Technology Careers Important

in VA?

Digest of Education Statistics, 2006

Engineering may be undervalued

Cannot change the economy

Must change the culture

Football heroesPolitical heroesComic book heroesBusiness heroesFireman heroesMusic heroesWar heroesAstronaut heroesReligious heroesTV heroes…& Guitar Heroes}

Why not science & technology heroes?

Changing Culture

The FIRST Vision

"To transform our cultureby creating a world where science

and technology are celebratedand where young people dream

of becoming science andtechnology heroes.“

— Dean Kamen, FIRST Founder