The School-Business Partnership of Long Island, the coordinator of the Long Island FIRST Robotics Competition announced the results of its recently completed evaluation of the experiences of completed by students who participated in the 2002-2003 competition. Over 1000 students from thirty-five Long Island School Districts attended the event at Suffolk County Community College, Brentwood. The results, over the last three years, continue to indicate that students are more likely to pursue engineering and science related career directions after they completed the robotics program.

The competition challenges students to design and build an original robot, working with professional mentors, that solves a problem using a “kit of parts” and a standard set of rules. Once these young inventors create the robot, their teams participate in regional competitions that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of students. “The FIRST Robotics Competition is not just about the design and building of sophisticated robots. These students also develop maturity, professionalism, teamwork, and mentoring skills that enrich their lives,” said Fred Breithut, President of School-Business Partnerships of Long Island (SBPLI) and coordinator of the Long Island FIRST Regional Robotics Competition. “Many of our students develop an affinity for their science and math courses, go on to study engineering, technology or science in college, and also pursue employment opportunities with sponsoring companies.”

The results from the evaluation were based on surveys given both before and after the competition. The assessment, conducted by the Center for Essential Management Services, found that participating students' attitudes about science, technology and the working world significantly improved after participating as did their confidence in managing future school and career challenges. Also, interest in internships and employment opportunities with sponsoring local companies increased.

An essential element of the competition is its focus on teamwork and problem solving. However, this year, as opposed to prior years, students had a slightly less interest in working on teams, although they all seemed to agree that it was one of the most important skills in life skills to learn. According to the researchers, Dave Vandergoot, Ph.D. and Kristie Golden, of the Center for Essential Management Services and members of the LI FIRST Development Council, “A possible reason for the decline of interest in teamwork is the difficulty this past year that many teams had in raising funds and resources for the varied activities associated with the competition. Designing and building the robot is a fun challenge but doing it with inadequate resources adds increased complexity and frustration, thus straining capability for teamwork. Yet, learning how to work with less is an important experience in its own right.”

As with previous years, results show that students were well satisfied with the competition. Students indicated an increase in self-esteem and assertiveness, reinforcing the value of mastering technology in today's world. The LI FIRST Robotics Competition brings out the best in students in many different and important ways.

The competition challenged students to design and build an original robot, working with professional mentors, that solves a problem using a “kit of parts” and a standard set of rules. Once these young inventors create the robot, their teams participate in regional competitions that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration and the determination of students. “The FIRST Robotics Competition is not just about the design and building of sophisticated robots. These students also develop maturity, professionalism, teamwork, and mentoring skills that enrich their lives,” said Fred Breithut, President of School-Business Partnerships of Long Island (SBPLI) and coordinator of the Long Island FIRST Regional Robotics Competition. “Many of our students develop an affinity for their science and math courses, go on to study engineering, technology or science in college, and also ensue employment opportunities with sponsoring companies.”