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Showing posts from January, 2018

Building STEM Competence and Confidence with Robotics

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In today�s technology-rich society, access to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs for students is more important than ever. STEM competence and confidence creates pathways to well-paying jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in the fastest-growing fields. Many educators, mentors and parents of middle and high school students use robotics programs as a vehicle to increase student exposure and access to developing STEM principles. The FIRST Tech Challenge Jump Start program introduces students in grades 7-12 to robotics and challenges them to build and program a robot designed to compete against other teams in a floor game. Jump Start teams get a head start on learning robot building and programming techniques months ahead of the competition season, which kicks off in September each year. With this extra time, educators and mentors can use FIRST Tech Challenge Jump Start to build students� STEM competence and confidence in the following ways. Introduce student...

Super Regionals - Then and Now

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Super Regional competitions were piloted in 2014 with the intent of creating a more balanced progression of competition. As FIRST Tech Challenge grew, the single World Championship accommodating 128 teams resulted in a very small percentage of teams making it to the top level of competition. Super Regional events provided a solution to this problem, and allowed more teams to reach a higher level of competition. The events were a tremendous success. The regions that stepped up to organize, fundraise and execute the events were amazing. The sponsors who believed in the vision donated over a million dollars to make them happen. The team experience was unlike anything else. We are truly grateful for the passion and effort that went into these events. Since the inception of Super Regionals several things have changed. Most significantly, we�ve added a second World Championship, as well as new World Championship venues. In 2017 FIRST Tech Challenge doubled the number of teams attending Worl...

2018 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship Waitlist

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I�m excited to share with you that FIRST Tech Challenge will once again invite teams to apply for a waitlist spot for the FIRST World Championship tournament that serves their region! I love that we can share the excitement and the sense of community that this once-in-a-lifetime event provides with even more students. Here�s how it will all work! We will have a waitlist for both FIRST World Championship Tournaments. Your team can apply for the waitlist if you registered for the season, and if you participated in a FIRST Tech Challenge competition at any level in the   FIRST RELIC RECOVERY season. Each FIRST World Championship Tournament will have about 36 waitlist spots, these spots will be shared between the US Super-Regions and the outside North America countries that participate in FIRST Tech Challenge.  You can apply for the waitlist through the team dashboard at firstinspires.org starting January 16 th at noon, Eastern Time. The waitlist will be open until Februa...