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| Amazing
Kids! of the Month
Amazing Kids! is proud to highlight the Amazing Kids! of the Month! Each month, we showcase kids who are accomplishing amazing things. We hope that by telling their special stories, we will inspire other kids to accomplish their own amazing achievements.
Amazing Kids! of the Month for November, 1999: Bob Jones High School/DaimlerChrysler Electronics FIRST Robotics Team & the Johnson Elementary Team 203 FIRST Lego League!
Check it out! The FIRST VCU/Langley Robotics competition in Richmond, Virginia will be broadcast on NASA TV on Saturday, March 18, 2000, from 8:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. EST. The entire national competition (in Orlando, Florida at the Epcot Center) will be broadcast on April 7-8. The times are: April 7 from 1:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. EST, and on April 8 from 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. EST The national competition will also be accessible via the Internet using real media at: http://robotics.nasa.gov/video
This month, Amazing Kids! is proud to feature the amazing engineering work of the students from Bob Jones High School and Johnson Elementary in Madison, Alabama. These amazing students actually built their very own robots, with the help of some very special mentors, the amazing engineers at DaimlerChrysler Electronics in Huntsville, Alabama! Bob Jones High School/DaimlerChrysler
Electronics FIRST Robotics Team &
What a breathtaking adventure! Imagine the challenge of building your own robot, designing your own plans, and using 3-D computer graphics to record your journey! Sound like a high-tech project for brilliant professional engineers? Guess again! This amazing opportunity is also available for students! Some amazing high school students
from Bob Jones High School in Madison, Alabama, partnered with mentor
engineers from DaimlerChrysler Electronics in Huntsville, Alabama,
to form a robotics team as part of the For Inspiration and Recognition
of Science and Technology (FIRST)
program
(http://www.usfirst.org).
What Is FIRST? Founded in 1989 by inventor Dean Kamen, the mission of US FIRST was to encourage students in America to get involved in the exciting fields of engineering and technology. The annual robotics competition was inspired by an engineering design course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology created by Professor Woodie Flowers. The purpose of the robot competition is to give students opportunities to interact with engineers so they can start to see the connection between their learning in the classroom, and the real world. By working closely together, both the students and the engineers benefit. In addition to the robot competition, two other awards are given to students: an Autodesk computer graphic award and the Chairman’s Award that is given for the best documentation of the entire six-week process. Students who compete become involved in a wide range of activities which give them exposure to some of the realities of the working world. The program is backed by the professional association ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers). Some Amazing Future Engineers... With only 6 weeks
to build an actual working robot, the students and mentors on this amazing
team had a big goal to accomplish! To start, they were given a box of “parts”
and a specific task for the robot to accomplish. The students, teachers,
and engineers on the team met together for some brainstorming
strategies.
Talk about "hands-on"
experience, and seeing how their work fits into the real-world! Students
had to use every skill they have learned in physics, mathematics, electricity,
welding, graphics, programming, and mechanics
to “out-power” their opponent robots. Ingenuity,
creativity, perseverance -- students must possess
them all.
The FIRST program originated with
the purpose of generating excitement about science, math, and technology,
and at least in the eyes of Bob Jones High School and Johnson Elementary
students they have succeeded! Students are immersed into the engineering
world and emerge with a better understanding of possible scientific/technical
careers. Teachers benefit by being exposed to the needs of the business
world and by gaining a renewed interest in encouraging students to develop
problem-solving skills.
The amazing students at Bob Jones
High School have even become mentors themselves! This year, in addition
to entering their robot in regional and national competitions, they have
taken on the enormous task of coordinating a state FIRST
LEGO League competition! Several area teams (and even teams from
Florida and Virginia) of elementary and middle schools, including Johnson
Elementary, will test their LEGO robots in a state contest hosted by the
Bob Jones High School students at the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center
on December 4, 1999.
These dedicated high school students have volunteered countless hours of their time after school for several weeks to provide guidance to some of the junior robotics teams and to plan the Alabama competition. Way to go, team! For more information about the FIRST Robotics Competition, the FIRST LEGO League, or Bob Jones High School, visit the following web sites. Who knows? Maybe someday you'll build a robot too! FIRST Robotics Competition: http://www.usfirst.org FIRST LEGO League: http://www.legomindstorms.com/fll/ Bob Jones High School: http://bjhs.madisoncity.k12.al.us Home Pages by other FIRST Competition Teams: http://www.usfirst.org/teampages.html List of Teams in the 1999 FIRST Robotics Competition: http://www.usfirst.org/1999comp/teamlist.html Read about FIRST Place, an exciting new science and technology facility created by FIRST, in Manchester, New Hampshire: http://www.usfirst.org/FIRSTPlace/
Amazing Engineering and Robotics Websites! Below is the list of engineering and robotics websites, as recommended by the FIRST website:
Definitions of Words *Engineering: "the science or profession of developing and using nature's power and resources in ways that are useful to people (as in designing and building roads, bridges, dams, or machines and in creating new products)"
<--Back to the Amazing Kids! of the Month Index
For more information about Amazing Kids!, please contact Alyse Rome, Executive Director, at: info@amazing-kids.org. |
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