My students need 2 NiMH Battery Packs, 4 DC Drive Motors, 1 Aluminum Sprocket and Chain Pack, 1 Gear Pack (40, 80 and 120-tooth) and Heavy-Duty Aluminum Channels.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Castro's classroom raised $755
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Students
Competing in the US FIRST FTC competition has given the students a sense of pride and enthusiasm I have not seen from many other events. Whether its researching, building, testing of documenting the robot creation, students take ownership of their education.
Students range from freshmen to seniors.
The team originally started with students from the computer science program. Soon students from other programs such as the engineering program joined the team. The team was even able to recruit students from the physics class. None of the students had any prior experience with US FIRST FTC. There was a huge learning curve this past year as students learning about the competition as well as designing, building and programming a robot. Perseverance describes the team best. There were a lot of demands, obstacle and failures the students had to overcome. To their credit, they earned the 2013-2014 New York City and Long Island QT Finalist Alliance held on Mar 2, 2014.
Our high school consists of over 3000 students. The school is in the process of becoming a full Career and Technical Education school with two of its tracks being computer programming and engineering.
My Project
The materials will help with building a more robust robot. This year we ran the obstacle of burning out our batteries. Luckily enough a fellow high school was able to assist in determining the problem and getting one of the batteries operational. Much of our building material is one level deep meaning that if something fails we have to rethink the design instead of just being able to replace the part. Though these situations offered for some creative thinking, I want to be able to match the students motivation and drive with the resources they deserve.
From the success and enthusiasm demonstrated by the students, it is my hope to eventually bring the FTC competition into the classroom with the acquisition of additional parts.
We currently use the Lego Mindstorms NXT to motivate students about engineering and programming. Robots add a whole other dimension that brings the students education alive.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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