End-of-Year Report

Please provide a description of how the BSF Funds were used to make a substantial, measurable and positive impact on student achievement.

Project Title/Area: BISD STEM Initiative Part 2 – Robotics at BISDGrade Level/Subject Area Targeted: Grades 7-12Number of Staff Impacted: Teachers at BHS, EHHS, WMS

Number of Students Impacted: Students at BHS, EHHS, WMS

Goal/Purpose of Project:The goal of robotics at BISD is to inspire all children in all grade levels to explore STEM concepts, express their creativity and problem solve while using robots to experience the design and engineering process.

Description of the Activities Completed:The growth of robotics at BISD has been driven by the vision to provide opportunities for students at all grade levels to explore robotics. BSF has supported the expansion of robotics every step of the way through both teacher innovation grants and the STEM Initiative. Robotics in the elementary grades includes Lego Wedo and Lego Mindstorms as part of the elementary curriculum. Tetrix and EV 3 robotics are used as teaching tools in grades 6-8 and in the 2014-2015 school year BISD launched two new middle school robotics clubs. The middle school clubs (FTC – FIRST Tech Challenge) are following in the footsteps of the hugely successful high school level robotics club (FRC- FIRST Robotics Challenge) which launched in the 2013-2014 and has now become an approved high school Career & Technical Education (CTE) elective class.

FIRST, which stands For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, was developed by inventor Dean Kamen. His goal was to inspire young people’s interest in science and technology with robot-building activities he calls “Sport for the Mind.” The FIRST organization works to motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math, while building self-confidence, knowledge and life skills. The program uses a modular robotics platform that allows students to design, build, and program robots that they use in robotics competitions.

In addition to teacher coaches, both the FTC and FRC teams include community volunteer mentors that provide valuable one-on-one interaction with students and help build their technical and interpersonal skills. Participation on the teams provides students with the opportunity to develop strategy, problem-solving, and communication skills – following the guidance “that learning is not a spectator sport”. Applying the engineering design process in this team format that culminates with an exciting arena-style, head- to-head competition has made these programs incredibly popular at BISD.The FTC program that launched this fall was an after school club open to all 7-8 graders attending school on Bainbridge Island. The initial interest in the club was so large that it became necessary to create two BISD FTC teams this year. The club met twice a week for the entire fall at COS and included 30 boys and girls. The teams competed in two regional events and the Interleague Championship in the Seattle area. They also honed their ambassador skills and spread their enthusiasm for STEM by participating in the BHS Robotics Open House in February and the West Sound STEM Showcase at Kitsap Mall in April.

The high school robotics club had a tremendous second year highlighted by the formation of an all-girls team, double the number of students (50) and mentors (15) participating in the regular season team, and another successful competition season that led the team all the way to the FIRST World Robotics Championships in St. Louis. Worldwide only 608 high school FRC teams qualify for the competition. At the end of the World Championships Spartronics’ robot GAEA ranked 206th among robots. On their pathway to the World Championships three special additional guest speaker engineers visited the team to share information about careers and answer the student’s questions.The team capitalized on a once in a century opportunity to engage the community and share their passion for STEM by seeking out the Mayor’s approval to declare 4.9.15 as Spartronics Day on Bainbridge Island. This was not their only effort to inspire other kids to explore robotics and STEM. The students also organized and hosted a community robotics open house, collaborated with a fellow Kitsap Peninsula team to demonstrate robotics at the Port Townsend Rhododendron Festival, is partnering with a local Girls Scout Troop to demonstrate robotics, and will be part of the KiDiMu 10Year Birthday Bash as well as the Bainbridge Island 4th of July parade. Their efforts to communicate about STEM and generate interest in robotics were recognized by the FIRST organization when they were awarded the Engineering Inspiration Award this spring for “outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within the team’s school and community”.

When FTC (middle school students) are asked what do you like about robotics…

2014-2015 BHS FRC FIRST Robotics Student Survey Responses

Working with small groups on focused projects where we were making design decisions and building parts

Working with our mentors and fellow teammates to produce a robot that was amazing. I really enjoyed working with people who are way smarter than me and be able to contribute in my own way. It was a lot of work, but it really exposed me to the business side of STEM and I enjoyed it hugely.

I loved working in a team to build a robot, specifically because I got to learn from and teach others (I did a lot more learning than teaching). Making it to Worlds was amazing!

My favorite part of FRC was the build season. It gave me the opportunity to learn new skills by watching other people and by figuring them out myself.

The amount of support for our team through the community and the families that came to see us compete. Their support really makes this worthwhile.

Working with intelligent people on intelligent and interesting things.

When asked about going to the World Championships in St. Louis senior Tarkan Al-Kazily said, “The best part for me is how you meet so many important figures in the science and technology world. Companies like Microsoft, Boeing and SpaceX come to inspire and provide opportunities for everyone involved, and schools such as MIT and the Olin College of Engineering come as well to discuss scholarships and meet prospective students.”

FRC World Championships, St. Louis, April 2015

FRC Robotics Community Open House

GirlsGen Competition – October 2014

FTC Everett Regional Competition

FTC Club – Robot Build Phase