challenges, others go for the low-hanging fruit.” According to Vicki Allen, who volunteers with her husband Jim as coaches for the Robles program, this involves a lot of trial and error. “There are 20 different missions on the board,” she said.” For example, a Lego robot might carry a barrel to a fountain and place it accurately to where an arm rises. “We want [the students] to get up to where a robot can accomplish four out of five tasks. One out of five is not going to work in competition..” She pointed out that students must grapple with challenges like limited battery life and potential wheel failure. “The children do all the work and you, as coach, bring your expertise,” she said. “We’re showing them that they have the skills.”
An Early Start
Founded in 1989 and based in Manchester, New Hampshire, FIRST aims to motivate students to pursue education and career opportunities in STEM fields. Its founder Dean Kamen invented the Segway and helped develop the Coca-Cola Freestyle vending machine. Bagley said the first Lego League started in 1998 as an early push to get kids into robotics. The idea was, she said, “If we start them younger, they’ll get interested early on and celebrate robotics as much as rock and roll and athleticism.” But FIRST doesn’t do it all alone. Nine years ago, Allen and her husband were visiting Robles as professionals to present on computer science and robotics and were inspired by the students’ interest, so started the Lego robotics team there. “They have no kids at the school. They just love the project,” Bagley said. “They’re so invested in those children without a biological connection. They’ve stuck it out with no funding because of their passion for the project. They’ve been paying for it themselves for eight years.”
This changed when Allen met Stephanie Morgan, CompTIA director of member education, at an ASTD meeting. “She tapped me on the shoulder, handed me her business card and said, ‘I want to sponsor your teams,’” she said. “I started crying.” CompTIA sponsors two teams at Robles. Builds a Future When Allen and her husband started Robles’ first Lego robotics program, there was a groundswell of interest. “When we first decided to start teams we were limited to 20 people,” she said. “Fifty tried to sign up.” It’s had an impact. Allen said she’s had parents call and tell her their students used to be a problem in school and got better after getting involved with the program. “It improves their behavior in other classes,” she said. Eighty-eight percent of FIRST LEGO league students are more interested in doing well in school, 87 percent
A Lego robotics team at Robles Elementary School in Tampa, Florida.
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CompTIAWorld | SPRING 2018
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