"...inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, by engaging them in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills..."
First Robotics Mission Statement
Students in our district are from a small, rural community in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Our community has a lower socio-economic population, with state data showing 53% of the students being economically disadvantaged and 77% of the eligible students participating in free and reduced lunch programs. Our attendance averages above 95% daily with only one day this past year below 90%. Our students are dedicated and enthusiastic learners. They react well to research-based instruction. Our goal is to purchase supplies allowing us to support an extra-curricular environment focusing on math and science while developing them into life skills. When this project is funded, our robotics club will have additional resources allowing them to create opportunities fundamental to their life beyond high school.
My Project
This equipment increases our supplies, enabling more students hands-on opportunities to learn wiring from mentors. The crimpers we currently use are ineffective for our student use. We chose a more user friendly and versatile version to enable our students to independently apply their new skills. Various heat shrink connectors replenish the inventory we used during our current build season. Finally, we need multiple motor controllers to take the code from the computer in order to process it and send the command to the motors enabling our robots to move.
These supplies enable our students to hone their wiring skills, which is an investment in their future.
Through hands-on, non-traditional learning, students attain wiring knowledge through the process of trial and error. Identifying the task, wiring and programming the robot and testing it, requires students to evaluate their successes and failures. Thus, I am teaching perseverance when multiple failures occur. These lessons cannot be offered without the materials listed nor in a traditional classroom setting in our area.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Putnam and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
