The Plan

First: We need to study sports and see what we can learn from them.

Young people are willing to work so hard at sports they throw up from exhaustion. Why is that? I think it is more than just love of sports or drive to win.

Why are students so willing to work so hard for sports but not for academics, or even money?

Maybe it is because kids hunger for activities in which they can engage in cooperative or (team) efforts in a competitive environment in the hopes of receiving some kind of recognition from both their peers and their society. My experience with STEM Camp seems to verify that hypothesis.

Last year several of our campers had, at best, a casual if not hostile attitude toward the camp. (I know one was forced by parents to come and another that was forced to come by his big brother, who attended the year before. ) We begin the camp with the Lego competition for the first two days. Basically we have four races, two each day. Most of them started with half-hearted efforts. But by the end of the first day, attitudes had noticeably changed. Several asked when they could come the next morning. I replied that we begin at 8:00, but that I would be there at 7:30. When I arrived at 7:15 the next morning there were nearly a dozen waiting to get in. We give them snacks at 10 and lunch at 11:30. Only a few stopped for snacks, and none of them would stop for lunch until, after telling them that lunch was ready three times, in exasperation the lady threatened to take away the food if they didn't come immediately. We were supposed to finish at 3 PM. We finally finished at 3:30, over the objections of more than a few. They weren't done yet.

Since there was never any emphasis on winning, and everyone already knew that the prizes were just twelve dollar calculators, I seriously doubt that winning was the motivating factor. I think everyone was simply excited by cooperative engagement, the constant attention of coaches, and the act of competing.

Our k12 kids are drowned in opportunities to engage in sports activities every year from grades 3 or 4 clear through high school.

In order to increase the number of students interested in science and technology I believe we need to adopt the same strategy. Three questions spring forward immediately.

What are we to do, how much will it cost, and , most importantly, who are we going to get to do it?

Second, we need to formulate a plan. I have one, here it is.

What should we do?

Do science activities with third graders

Coach "mini lego league" for grades 4 & 5 in spring

Coach real First Lego League (FLL) team for grades 5 - 8 for state competition for six weeks in fall.

Organize a First Tech Competion (FTC) team for grades 7 - 10 and perhaps even a FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team for grades 10 - 12.

How much will it cost?

Cost will be a major factor for FTC and FIRST Robotics. Here are the costs in round figures, which include robot kits and registration fees, with some added for miscellaneous costs.

"mini lego league" - a lego mindstorm kit and a computer,

both of which I am prepared to provide for free.

FLL - $500

FTC - $1500

FRC - $7000 - $10000, plus, a professional engineer as a mentor is required, deep pocket sponsors also highly recommended.

Why robotics competition?

Because of my personal experience with the STEM camp lego competitions and because of some case histories about Lego leagues. (See Appendix I for the whole nine yards.)

(Samples.)

Case Histories:

»Just 5 years ago, East Tech, an urban high school located in

the center of Clevelands most impoverished housing project

was slated for closing.

What FIRST opened up for these students can be seen in their achievements.Weve become the science/engineering magnet school for all the district. More students try out for the FIRST team than for football and basketball combined.

12 students, including 5 females, representing the first class to experience four years in FIRST,

all from inner city neighborhoods, all received scholarships and went on to the following schools:

Case Western Reserve; Cornell; MIT; University of Dayton; Cleveland State; Air Force Academy;

Ohio State; Allegheny College; Mount Union College; Georgetown.

Mr. Jerome Seppelt   FIRST Program Manager, East Technical High School, Cleveland,OH

Who should we get to do it? Well, what usually happens is everybody sits around and expects some teacher to come forward and do it, for nothing, simply because they “enjoy what they are doing and are dedicated.” And many do. But what eventually happens to volunteer science programmers is that they get burned out and their spare time eventually dwindles to zero. I can just about guarantee that most sports coaches “enjoy what they are doing and are dedicated”, but nobody ever expects them to do it for nothing. In fact, many of them get paid more than teachers.

So let's review. Everyone recognizes the importance of sports in our young people's lives and we pay to make certain sports programs persist, yet while their interest in STEM is as important, if not more, for the well being of this country, we leave STEM programs to the casual interest of occasional teachers.

I believe we should form a dependable science team (made up of community college students) to carry out these activities. The cost of a science team to serve our service area of 6 schools is about the salary of a single high school teacher.

Brief History of the Science Team

This is the thirteenth year we have had a science team at CACC. I first got the idea for a science team at a national two year college physics teacher's meeting from a casual conversation with a friend, Marie Plum, who taught physics at a community college in New York State. She taught a 2-hour course, organized and attended the third grade sessions with her students.

My students find their own third grade class, organize their own schedule of 5 visits per semester, and make up about half of their own activities. (The rest come from our box of tricks.) For this effort they get a polo shirt with their name on it and bonus points that amount to 3 % of their grade.

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