Any of you give high school credit for FLL robotics?

[AuntieM]

My son has participated in FIRST Lego League robotics for the past two years, and his team has done exceptionally well at the state tournament. Considering the time and academic investment, I would love to grant him a high school science/technology credit for his work. The hours are definitely enough to have earned a Carnegie unit!

For those of you who have done this, what independent requirements have you added? I will have him write a detailed paper about his involvement in the experience, I am just wondering what other things you felt necessary to add to honestly call it a credit.

I do realize that it is a wonderful extracurricular activity to put on a transcript, and in the end, that's where it may go. However, I am considering counting it now. I appreciate anything you can share!

[CathieC]

My son is participating in a GeoRobotics program. Most of the kids there did the FLL tournament the year before. I kept a log of his hours participating in the program. It looks like it will be around 70 hours. I will have him write a short paper on the what he's learned. I've also found a few websites for him to explore (listed below). I will claim a 1/2 credit, and call it Geo-Robotics.

Websites:
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1510/
http://www.thetech.org/robotics/
http://www.roboticstrends.com/
http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/humanoid-robotics-group

[Michelle in MO]

the one with B.E.S.T. (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology), with our local hub being in St. Louis at St. Louis University. One of the students, who was in high school at the time, was enrolled by his mother in their local high school. I think she had logged about 80+ hours for the robotics competition, and I believe the high school gave him a full credit. Of course, this award of credits would vary from high school to high school.

I would think if you had enough hours (usually 120+) for a full high school credit, or at least 60+ hours for a half credit, that this would be the equivalent of the type of class you mentioned (technology?).

HTH!

[Jane in NC]

My son has participated in FIRST Lego League robotics for the past two years, and his team has done exceptionally well at the state tournament. Considering the time and academic investment, I would love to grant him a high school science/technology credit for his work. The hours are definitely enough to have earned a Carnegie unit!

For those of you who have done this, what independent requirements have you added? I will have him write a detailed paper about his involvement in the experience, I am just wondering what other things you felt necessary to add to honestly call it a credit.

I do realize that it is a wonderful extracurricular activity to put on a transcript, and in the end, that's where it may go. However, I am considering counting it now. I appreciate anything you can share!

My son did this as an extracurricular in 9th with his team winning a trophy at the state tournament. We just called it extra curricular. To make it a class, I think that you would have to add some programming, BASIC if he hasn't worked in it, or C++ if he has. FLL ages out at 14, so I think you may need to be careful giving high school credit for the program.

Just my two cents.
Jane

[Michelle in MO]

My son did this as an extracurricular in 9th with his team winning a trophy at the state tournament. We just called it extra curricular. To make it a class, I think that you would have to add some programming, BASIC if he hasn't worked in it, or C++ if he has. FLL ages out at 14, so I think you may need to be careful giving high school credit for the program.

Just my two cents.
Jane

competition is open to both junior high (or middle school, as it's called now) and high school aged kids, so I would think about 60 quality hours of work would be equal to a half credit. I'm not familiar with FLL, but your point makes a lot of sense.

[AuntieM]

I am also considering the age range for FLL in choosing whether to include it as a credit. My son was the lead programmer, Java Script is what they used, and his experience was quite a good one, with the team bringing home major trophies both years. There was an instructional component with representatives from the university teaching the guys programming skills in a 2 day workshop, plus all the public speaking/interviewing that goes along with the competitions and associated community service presentations.

One of the reasons I'd like to count it as a Carnegie unit (or 1/2) is that our local community college requires a student to have earned high school junior status to enroll in classes there. They don't place a stipulation on age, as long as 12 credits (for our district) have been earned and the student passes the COMPASS test. Our goal is to open up wider opportunites for our highly-motivated science student as soon as he meets the criteria. (FWIW, we do feel his maturity matches his ability, that's the first question many ask, so in case you thought it, too...!)

In the long run, as we prepare a transcript to submit with college applications, this FLL credit may drop off, since he will almost certainly have credits in excess of the minimum requirements. As we look at college entrance requirements, we find they vary in whether or not they accept credits for work completed prior to the "official" start of high school (what you would start with as 9th grade on a transcript). That was eye-opening for us, and something to be aware of as you look at colleges!

Thanks again!

[kappie]

I don't have an answer for the original question, but want to point out a couple facts. (My son has been on an FLL team for three years, and I was a coach this year.)

Although FLL supposedly ages out at 14, the cut-off is 14 as of January 1 of the challenge year, so any kid who turns 15 on January 2 or later is still eligible. My son will be turning 15 in August and will be a high school sophmore and will most likely be on a team in the fall. (I will be counting it as an EC.)

The second fact is that Java Script is NOT a legal programming language in FLL. Are you sure that's what was used?

[AuntieM]

in experimenting with the process, I believe, when they were learning to program the brick; at least I know my son did in his individual research and outside reading as he learned the programming. But you are correct, for the competition programming they use NXC (an acronym for "Not Exactly C," my son tells me). FWIW, I am definitely not the most computer-literate member of our household : )

One of our out-of-town friends invited our son to attend a summer camp at their local college that will teach Java and use the mindstorm bricks & bots to apply the programming language, so it does work with the mindstorm kits. We declined, though, because we hope to move to the regular FIRST league next year and from our understanding, java is definitely not used in that league.