Kids track; non-competitive building advice

[Ansel Halliburton]

Hello, club!

My 7th grader loves robots, and is on a Vex Robotics team with some of his classmates. It's a fun activity. However, my observation is that the competition aspect sucks up most of the energy, and drives a lot of unfortunate behavior throughout the league. Locally, so many Bay Area parents are desperate for their kids to get ahead and win, win, win. With all that, plus a tightly prescribed (and expensive) parts list, I don't think the kids learn much, or get to be very creative. 

This season, within a few weeks of the season opening, adult Vex influencers posted their designs (in which zero children participated) to YouTube, and almost everyone's designs immediately converged. It's a huge bummer, if you have goals other than winning by any means.

I really like the challenge approach HBRC has, as a way to establish tangible goals while removing the pressurized competition and the incentives against learning that go with it. I could definitely see kids getting into the TableBot and FloorBot challenges!

Our regular meetings are decently kid friendly, but what does the club think about doing some specific, kid-focused events? Have we ever done that before, and if so, how did it go? What do you all know that I don’t?

What kind of kits or other hardware & software would folks recommend for kids building their own things these days? It seems many curricula and after-school STEM activities are starting with Scratch-like block coding, and then moving to Python around sixth-grade-ish. I know my kid has used Micro:Bit at school, and I’m a big fan of CircuitPython, having used it on both RP2040 and ESP32 microcontrollers.

Here is a related thread from earlier this year:

“ISO: Someone to advise on robotic projects"

https://groups.google.com/g/hbrobotics/c/nkOfwYoiBd4/m/js8C_t5NDgAJ

Thanks for any thoughts!

[Alan Federman]

I have never participated in Vex robotics, but I have been involved in FIRST since 1998. I think FLL(First LEGO League) would probably be a better fit for your child, as cooperation, rather than competition is the focus. 

 

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[Lloyd Dickinson]

I taught I robotics basics to middle schoolers and ran simple completions all using the same robot. Programming was up to them. Was involved a bit with FRC and parents do really dictate was goes on and that does limit learning.  

I like your suggestion. Before 2020 pandemic Robot Garden (a maker space) supported a robotics for kids/young adults. Pandemic knock us down  and we now support FRC teams  and no kids robotics. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/hbrobotics/934739893.52478.1765467295066%40connect.xfinity.com.

[A J]

Right, sports and entertainment make up most of our large gatherings.

But some of the Master Chef and Master Lego Builder shows are entertaining.

What about a Jr Shark Tank show where students compete for scholarships?