NCAT's mission is to lead the education of the nations Autonomous Technologies workforce through a concerted effort which will focus on expanding educational resources to address current workforce demands, develop career pathways, and broadly engage stakeholders from education, industry, government and related ATE centers and projects.
NCAT is working to develop STEM pathways to engage students at a young age to become interested in STEM and equip them with the soft skills and technical experience that will prepare them for a career in the field. NCAT collaborates with multiple partners to develop the most multifaceted approach to broaden participation and access for all learners. NCAT understands the importance of creating an inclusive environment where all students feel comfortable sharing their knowledge and ideas.
Right now there is a gap in skilled workforce able to setup and service autonomous technology. As technology grows, the supporting infrastructure and workforce must also grow. That is why STEM outreach programs such as VEX robotics and drone competitions are such an important investment into the future.
Technology, Broadening Participation
Natl Ctr for Autonom Tech
Advanced Technological Education (ATE)
Related Content for The Future Workforce Begins with a Spark
Excellent video, Jonathan and the NCAT team. What is the competition or event that is featured in the video? I am very interested in the recruitment strategies that you used to draw so many students to the competition/event.
Jonathan Beck
Lead Presenter Principal Investigator/Director
May 5, 2020 | 04:15 p.m.
This is actually five competitions in one. MN State High School VEX Robotics Championship, MN State Middle School VEX Robotics Championship,
MN State Middle school VEX IQ Robotics Championship, MN State Elementary School VEX IQ Robotics Championship, and the NCAT RAD (Drone) Tournament.
NCAT Partners also feature many more STEM engagement activities and student competitions that are not featured in this video such as:
Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) National Center Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle ROV student competition https://mateii.org/rov-competition/
MATE ROV is a worldwide event with more than 20 countries and 60 team participating in the MATE ROV World Event.
The recruitment strategies are numerous. We host competitions, summer camps, educator workshops, and present at opportune gatherings. Students generally want to be on robotics teams. The more challenging part is recruiting coaches and convincing schools and other organizations to start competition teams. We find adults are reluctant to jump into program until they feel knowledgeable about the competition. Educator workshop are critical to recruiting into these STEM Outreach programs. We have deployed many recruitment strategies including formal presentation to cooperatives, administrators, and corporate sponsors. Some of the best recruitment comes via word of mouth from the students, parents and mentors in the program. They have great stories to share which inspire others to get involved.
In addition to the competitions we host numerous summer camps which add to the recruitment effort. For students in the program summer camps are an opportunity to develop their skills and learn from mentors. For others new to robotics it is an explorative experience. Many times a competition team has been started by a student attending a camp and going back to their school to start a program.
A key value for competitions that NCAT sponsors is to not be limited to schools which opens the door for many other organizations such as home school, 4-H, scouts, and community groups. The competition models are student centered. The students are the ones doing the work as the mentors /coaches are restricted from working directly on the robots. This means that the mentors don’t need to be robotics experts thus opening the door for those with different skill sets. We want a program where the students benefit from iterative learning and the coaches manage logistics like signing waivers and arranging transportation. Some of our best coaches couldn’t build or program a robot, but they give the students opportunity by taking care of the team’s supervision and logistics.
Jonathan Beck
Lead Presenter Principal Investigator/Director
May 5, 2020 | 06:44 a.m.
“The Future Workforce Begins with a Spark”
Let’s create a spark to ignite possibilities and open access to drive the future of tomorrow’s Autonomous Technologies Workforce.
I believe inspiration drives meaning in education. My name is Jon Beck and I am the Executive Director for the National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT). NCAT was recently funded as a National Center under the NSF ATE program. I’ve been a faculty member and instructor at Northland Community and Technical College with the Unmanned Aircraft Systems programs for the last ten years. It wasn’t until I started teaching that I developed a full appreciation for education. I now understand the STEM movement and how technician careers drive the United States economy.
This video demonstrates cultivating imagination fueled with fascination. The result is driving new opportunities for autonomous technologies that will benefit society and the way we see the world. Innovation requires this curiosity-based drive. It also requires diverse perspectives and ideas. This is why NCAT believes in student competitions and STEM engagement to inspire students. The highly skilled technical workforce requires motivated lifelong learners from a broad pool including underrepresented populations. We are opening doors for people, leading to a better society and an incredible future.
Let real activities drive communication of future opportunities.
Questions that we will seek to address:
How do we effectively evaluate the long term impact of student competitions and STEM engagement activities?
Jonathan Beck
Lead Presenter Principal Investigator/Director
May 5, 2020 | 04:38 p.m.
Additional Questions from the NCAT team
What methods can educators use to increase access, and increase inclusion of underrepresented groups to STEM education?
What is the long-term impact of STEM competitions on participant career choices. What tools and methods can be used to track these students?
How do students’ perspectives of Autonomous Technology compare between groups in STEM competitions and groups not in STEM Competitions?
What is the corporate perspective of the impact of STEM outreach programs?
How do educators and school administrators know which STEM competition is right for their school? This is a complicated question with many factors. A matrix for educators to evaluate the major STEM outreach programs would compare important criteria including price, time commitment, season schedule, skills learned, student centers vs mentor led, lab space requirements, access to competitions, target age, links to websites, and other criteria. This tool would prove valuable for decision makers to directly compare STEM outreach programs. A consumer reports for STEM competitions.
Terrific video and valuable work, Jonathan. So glad you've shared it, here. I'll echo Wing's comment about recruiting - would like to have some insight into the tools & methods & personalized touch that you're using to attract students. Also wondering about any specific elements you're generating that can be adapted to / integrated with K-12 math & science classrooms.
Jonathan Beck
Lead Presenter Principal Investigator/Director
May 5, 2020 | 04:18 p.m.
As a result of the COVID-19 mitigation many of our summer camps have been cancelled. NCAT looks at this as an opportunity to develop resources to help the Autonomous community. We are currently assembling a plan to develop videos, lesson plans, activities, and assessments which will be open to educators. This digital content will be great resources for educators. All of this in the development phase with the intent to produce over the summer months. The intent is to share these materials with educators as open educational resources.
MATE also has a mechanism to keep students engaged and that is by the progression of competition classes or “levels”. -SCOUT (entry-level) -NAVIGATOR (beginner-intermediate) -RANGER (intermediate) -EXPLORER (advanced) The progressive structure MATE has put in place complements the educational pipeline by providing students with the opportunity to build upon their skills as they engineer increasingly more complex technology for increasingly more complex tasks, allowing them to stay engaged and advance after they master each level. As such, the competition classes are not defined by grade level, but rather by the knowledge, skills, creativity, innovation and motivation of the student teams.
MATE is both after school or in-school; teachers, mentors, and event parents implement the project in a variety of ways.
MATE’s pricing for the programs differs as they strive to keep it accessible to a wide and diverse audience of students. Jill Zande, MATE II President/Executive Director can provide additional details, but for example, registration for the MATE Competition currently ranges from $50 - $400, depending on the competition class that you enter. Unlike other programs out there, you are not required to use MATE ROV kits; MATE created them (via funding from ITEST grant) to reduce barriers to participation, but not as a requirement for competition. MATE kits currently range from $190 - $725, depending on the complexity.
Gerhard Salinger
Facilitator Retired Program Officer
May 5, 2020 | 10:57 a.m.
Some time ago there was a discussion that boys took over in mixed groups. An all girl group took time to think about about different designs and came up with a better design. What is your experience with outcomes in single gender and mixed gender groups?
Jonathan Beck
Lead Presenter Principal Investigator/Director
May 5, 2020 | 04:21 p.m.
That’s a great question Gerhard! I referred this question to our DRONETECH Director – Thomas Biller, who works with student competition groups, particularly for the RAD Aerial Drone Competition. He responded by stating: “I have also seen where male students have taken over in a mixed-group setting. However, I believe it narrows down to the students personality type, as I’ve also seen where a female student takes charge in a group setting. As far as an all-female student team working together, there was an all-female team that won the Minnesota State Championship Robotics Aerial Drone Competition this year. I truly believe that male and female students are both equal when it comes to STEM activities, especially in the world of drones. The skill sets aren’t reliant on physical traits as much as problem-solving skills and creativity.”
Jonathan Beck
Lead Presenter Principal Investigator/Director
May 5, 2020 | 04:34 p.m.
Speaking with Andrew Dahlen, Mechatronics Instructor at Northland Community and Technical College, VEX Robotics Coordinator, and major contributor for NCAT, he had this to say. The group dynamics in mixed gender teams is always very interesting to observe. There are always exceptions to these statements, but generally speaking we find male students tend to grab leadership roles on the team. Many coaches have designed team management strategies which encourage all team members opportunities for growth and development. All female teams do have some advantages and have experienced tremendous success in this program.
Good job! I would also like some specifics on your recruitment techniques, for both students and instructors. What are the costs for starting the different programs? Is this an after school program or part of the school curriculum?
Jonathan Beck
Lead Presenter Principal Investigator/Director
May 5, 2020 | 04:29 p.m.
Andrew Dahlen, Mechantronics Instructor at Northland Community and Technical College and VEX Robotics Coordinator has helped our region grow from five VEX teams (8 years ago) to more than 400 teams in our region today. The startup costs for equipment vary for the three programs represented in the video. A VEX Robotics team needs about $1,500, a VEX IQ team needs roughly $300 and a RAD team needs $300 for equipment startup. The Robotics Education and Competition Foundation has historically offered grants to new team start-ups and girl-powered teams. They’ve also even offered a regional grant to start new competition teams. Here is a link to apply for these: https://www.roboticseducation.org/grants/
The MATE ROV kit and materials were listed earlier but I’ll repost to ensure they are not missed. The pricing for the MATE’s programs differs as they strive to keep it accessible to a wide and diverse audience of students. Jill Zande, MATE II President/Executive Director can provide additional details, but for example, registration for the MATE Competition currently ranges from $50 - $400, depending on the competition class that you enter. Unlike other programs out there, you are not required to use MATE ROV kits; MATE created them (via funding from ITEST grant) to reduce barriers to participation, but not as a requirement for competition. MATE kits currently range from $190 - $725, depending on the complexity. More information can be found at: https://www.marinetech.org/mate-loaner-rov-kit-...
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Found helpful:
Holly Morin
Ann-Claire Anderson
PI, NSF ATE project, "Preparing Technicians for the Future of Work"
Hi, Jonathan-- I've been thinking about your question "How do we effectively evaluate the long term impact of student competitions and STEM engagement activities?" I guess one answer would be tracking the students' postsecondary jobs or college programs. That kind of longitudinal approach might be a starting point. The problem is that the STEM pipeline is leaky, so entry to a program and persistence in the technical field might be two different metrics. The competition format looks phenomenal! I want to echo Cheryl's question: is robotics integrated in the curriculum or is this primarily an after school or camp program?
Jonathan Beck
Lead Presenter Principal Investigator/Director
May 5, 2020 | 04:42 p.m.
NCAT has been investigating this and would be very interested in solutions. We've found challenges a process to track students participating at the k-12 level into their educational tracks and careers based on data collection sensitivity. See the responses above to address you second question about the integration into programs and after school activities.
Jill Zande
May 6, 2020 | 12:48 p.m.
Hi Anne-Claire,
I added a reply to your question below, as a separate post, before seeing the reply option here. Please have a look!
Jill Zande President/Executive Director, MATE Inspiration for Innovation (MATE II) Associate Director & Competition Coordinator, MATE Center Co-Principal Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT)
Mercy Mugo
Facilitator Senior Research Analyst and Grants Specialist
May 5, 2020 | 01:01 p.m.
Great work exposing students to STEM early in their academic careers. Like many others on this thread, I would like to know how you recruited your participants. Are they in different grade levels? Do they come from the same school or different schools? How long is the training?
Jonathan Beck
Lead Presenter Principal Investigator/Director
May 5, 2020 | 04:50 p.m.
Please see the earlier responses and let me know if you have more questions that have not been addressed.
Nahid Nariman
Researcher
May 6, 2020 | 10:07 a.m.
Wow! Jon, this is amazing. I am so excited that you are creating opportunities for so many students to be creative and innovate new solutions all of their own. How would this plan be taken to other states? I am working with high-school students in Hawaii and believe if you expose students to their true strength at younger age, they will grow to better know their abilities and strengths and will be more interested in STEM. Have you done any data collection of learning about students’ interest before and after these projects?
Andrew Dahlen
Higher Ed Faculty
May 6, 2020 | 02:04 p.m.
We did a few studies back in 2013-2015 for the 360 Manufacturing ATE Center of Excellence related to VEX Robotics. These are the high level findings:
The majority of youth respondents felt that they learned many skills very well by working with their team, particularly “imagination and creativity” (74%) and “working by trial and error” (73%).
Youth reported greater interest and confidence in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), as well as greater interest and awareness in manufacturing careers.
Youth and adults reported more favorable opinions of STEM and manufacturing careers after completing the VEX program.
This model is very portable for other states. In fact Hawaii has some concentration of VEX Teams in Hilo Hawaii. You can find the names by searching robotevents.com
Andrew Dahlen
Mechatronics Instructor
VEX Robotics Coordinator
Northland Community and Technical College
Jeremy Roschelle
Facilitator Director
May 6, 2020 | 11:44 a.m.
HI Jonathan and team, great music -- woke me up this morning -- and an inspiring video overall. Keep up the great work!
I participated in First Lego competitions as a coach/parent and one thing I observed is that the rubrics for scoring were key to the well-roundedness of the approach. Because they gave 1/4 points only for completing missions, and other points had to do with collaboration/teamwork and quality of code and a passion project, teams didn't focus only on making the robot do everything -- and the multiple dimensions allowed multiple kids on the team to lead and thrive. I also observed it was a great occasion for white-collar parents to share their work experience with kids. These make me wonder about two things:
Have you found a way to get a diversity of parents meaningfully involved?
Have you found other rubrics or tools that push teams to broad outcome goals for their teamwork -- and make it so that its harder to win if you have just one kid driving the team?
best,
jeremy
Andrew Dahlen
Higher Ed Faculty
May 6, 2020 | 02:41 p.m.
Greetings Jeremy,
I was a Lego League coach for 10 years so I appreciate your sentiments.
The question about parents meaningfully involved is a challenge for these programs. It is important for the competition to remain student centered. Parents, coaches, and mentors can not do the work. We refer to parent designed and built robots as "daddy bots" and "mommy bots". For STEM programs to be meaningful the students need to do the work and that means that they will occasionally fail. FYI, fails stand for "First Attempt In Learning". Students learn more when they try and fail vs. watching the parent or mentor do the work. Also when there is a challenge during an event parents need to let the students handle it on their own. We need to teach our youth how face adverse situations straight on. Find the facts, cite the specific rules and regulations, provide evidence, keep calm, and respect the decisions of the volunteer staff. Parental contributions are welcome, but we need to direct their efforts in such a way that the students are making decisions for the team.
On another note, I had a conversation with a girls basketball coach a while back. Girls basketball is relatively new. He stated years ago parents of girl players were uninterested. Things really changed when the girls who themselves played back in high school had daughters of their own playing in high school. When this happened the parental contribution and drive turned up to 11. I believe as robotics competitions mature as an intellectual sport, the sons and daughters of robotics alumnus will be overwhelmed by parental support. This could be a really interesting research topic.
The VEX competitions rubrics also encourage teamwork: "Students can explain how multiple team members contributed to the robot design and game strategy. All students answer questions independently." I have judged many competitions and find it encouraging when each member speaks directly about their contribution to the team. Of course this is not always the case. Some teams have one dominant member which is clear in the interviews. When everyone brings a contribution to the team effort, the results are apparent in the judges assessment.
Andrew Dahlen
Mechatronics Instructor
VEX Robotics Coordinator
Northland Community and Technical College
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Found helpful:
Holly Morin
Jill Zande
May 6, 2020 | 12:43 p.m.
Hi Anne-Claire,
I'm Jill Zande, a Co-PI on the MATE and NCAT grants and the President/Executive Director of MATE II. I'll answer your question, "How do we effectively evaluate the long term impact of student competitions and STEM engagement activities?" from the perspective of the MATE Global ROV Competition (www.materovcompetition.org), which was created back in 2001 with NSF ATE funding and expanded with support from NSF's ITEST program.
Over the years, we've collected registration data on the students who take part in the competition. We recently completed our second survey of MATE competition "alumni" - we focused on students who have participated in our program and are now either pursuing higher education or in the workforce. Those results are literally "hot off the presses," so I haven't had time to update the results from the first competition alumni survey we administered in 2015, but you can see the type of data we collected presented in the infographic located here - https://materovcompetition.org/sites/default/files/2019_MATE_Infographic.pdf.
Further, as a condition of being awarded our last ITEST grant (in 2013), we were asked to investigate the answer to a very similar question - essentially, how do ROV competition students' future education/degree program choices compare to those who haven't participated in the ROV competition? Are they more or less likely to pursue a STEM degree? You can find information on the paths we took to get at that, including dead ends as well as eventually progress with the National Student Clearinghouse (I'm currently waiting for the report on our second data match, which was sent in earlier this year) via our evaluation reports located here - https://www.marinetech.org/itest/ (you will need to create a login, but it's easy and it's free!).
Happy to talk more - see my contact information below.
Take care!
Jill Zande President/Executive Director, MATE Inspiration for Innovation (MATE II) Associate Director & Competition Coordinator, MATE Center Co-Principal Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT) jzande@marinetech.org (831) 646-3082
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Such an exciting video documenting an even more exciting project! You have clearly built a super inclusive approach to encourage interest in autonomous technologies. My 4th grader is totally captivated by drone technology and it's easy to see how compelling the competition side could be, not to mention the same with the VEX robots.
Have you found that the focus on the "soft skills" and "technical experience" to prepare them for a career in STEM has also influenced their identity as STEM professionals? In other words, in what ways might preparing them with the skills and experience also encourage them to see their future selves in STEM careers?
Zackary Nicklin
Higher Ed Faculty
May 12, 2020 | 11:35 a.m.
Hi Nick,
I think a mixture of the soft skills and technical experience help to build a strong foundation that can be built upon for the rest of their lives. Comfort with technology and troubleshooting, even small issues with their equipment, builds confidence in the participants. Soft skills allow for team building which not only encourages different ways of thinking but also allows the participants a comfort level with their peers. They may be more likely to seek out different opinions or viewpoints which in turn would make for a better technician as they would have the ability to approach the same problem in multiple ways in order to arrive at a solution.
Good peer interaction coupled with a healthy competitive environment drives interest and innovation, setting students up for a STEM career that they have already associated with fun, friends and a bit of a challenge!
Zack Nicklin
Co-Principle Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT)
UAS Program Manager, Northland Community and Technical College
Zackary Nicklin
Higher Ed Faculty
May 12, 2020 | 11:35 a.m.
Hi Nick,
I think a mixture of the soft skills and technical experience help to build a strong foundation that can be built upon for the rest of their lives. Comfort with technology and troubleshooting, even small issues with their equipment, builds confidence in the participants. Soft skills allow for team building which not only encourages different ways of thinking but also allows the participants a comfort level with their peers. They may be more likely to seek out different opinions or viewpoints which in turn would make for a better technician as they would have the ability to approach the same problem in multiple ways in order to arrive at a solution.
Good peer interaction coupled with a healthy competitive environment drives interest and innovation, setting students up for a STEM career that they have already associated with fun, friends and a bit of a challenge!
Zack Nicklin
Co-Principle Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT)
UAS Program Manager, Northland Community and Technical College
Great production! Was just wondering did you guys have an internal team shoot and edit the video or have to outsource it? Very nicely done, whichever route you had to go.
Chelsea Bladow
Co-Presenter Equity & Inclusion Communications Director
May 11, 2020 | 09:55 a.m.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for the comment! We had a video production team come in to the MN Vex Robotics State Championship Tournament and the first MN RAD Aerial Drone Competition to shoot a series of five videos (this one included) for NCAT. We see and understand the power of video as an outreach tool and plan to utilize these videos to reach a broader network of students, parents, teachers and the workforce.
Amy Hutchison
Associate Professor
May 9, 2020 | 09:56 a.m.
Students seem so excited to be involved in this work! Thanks for sharing!
Gerhard Salinger
Facilitator Retired Program Officer
May 9, 2020 | 06:17 p.m.
Have you thought about what measurable outcomes would lead you (and (ATE) to say this project has been a success?
Jill Zande
May 9, 2020 | 06:40 p.m.
Hi Gerhard,
From the perspective of the MATE ROV Competition, yes! The fact that it was created with funding from NSF ATE and in partnership with the Marine Technology Society, is rooted in workforce development, carried out its first event in 2001, is still going strong with 41 regional competition programs across the U.S. and around the world, and would have celebrated its 19th annual World Championship this year had it not been for COVID-19, I would say that it has been a success. The data presented here https://materovcompetition.org/sites/default/files/2019_MATE_Infographic.pdf also speaks to its success and impact.
We recently completed a 2nd competition "alumni" survey as well as a 2nd data match with the National Student Clearinghouse. We'll have those results posted soon!
Jill ZandePresident/Executive Director, MATE Inspiration for Innovation (MATE II)Associate Director & Competition Coordinator, MATE Center Co-Principal Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT)
Cool, fun and engaging work. The video mentioned training teachers to bring innovative approaches for fostering collaboration and soft skills - can y'all expound on the theoretical framework of these innovative approaches, the constructs that are operationalized, the data collection/metrics to evaluate them and the outcomes that highlight impacts?
Wing Cheung
Excellent video, Jonathan and the NCAT team. What is the competition or event that is featured in the video? I am very interested in the recruitment strategies that you used to draw so many students to the competition/event.
Jonathan Beck
Principal Investigator/Director
This is actually five competitions in one. MN State High School VEX Robotics Championship, MN State Middle School VEX Robotics Championship,
MN State Middle school VEX IQ Robotics Championship, MN State Elementary School VEX IQ Robotics Championship, and the NCAT RAD (Drone) Tournament.
NCAT Partners also feature many more STEM engagement activities and student competitions that are not featured in this video such as:
Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) National Center Underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle ROV student competition https://mateii.org/rov-competition/
MATE ROV is a worldwide event with more than 20 countries and 60 team participating in the MATE ROV World Event.
The MinnState Transportation Center of Excellence leads the Nitro-X automotive competition. https://www.minntran.org/students/nitro-x/
The Center for Advanced Automotive Technologies features AutoSTEAM: http://autocaat.org/Students/Student_Activities/
The GeoTech Center hosts a Geospatial Technology Skills Competition: http://www.geotechcenter.org/geospatial-technology-skills-competition-winner.html
The recruitment strategies are numerous. We host competitions, summer camps, educator workshops, and present at opportune gatherings. Students generally want to be on robotics teams. The more challenging part is recruiting coaches and convincing schools and other organizations to start competition teams. We find adults are reluctant to jump into program until they feel knowledgeable about the competition. Educator workshop are critical to recruiting into these STEM Outreach programs. We have deployed many recruitment strategies including formal presentation to cooperatives, administrators, and corporate sponsors. Some of the best recruitment comes via word of mouth from the students, parents and mentors in the program. They have great stories to share which inspire others to get involved.
In addition to the competitions we host numerous summer camps which add to the recruitment effort. For students in the program summer camps are an opportunity to develop their skills and learn from mentors. For others new to robotics it is an explorative experience. Many times a competition team has been started by a student attending a camp and going back to their school to start a program.
A key value for competitions that NCAT sponsors is to not be limited to schools which opens the door for many other organizations such as home school, 4-H, scouts, and community groups. The competition models are student centered. The students are the ones doing the work as the mentors /coaches are restricted from working directly on the robots. This means that the mentors don’t need to be robotics experts thus opening the door for those with different skill sets. We want a program where the students benefit from iterative learning and the coaches manage logistics like signing waivers and arranging transportation. Some of our best coaches couldn’t build or program a robot, but they give the students opportunity by taking care of the team’s supervision and logistics.
Jonathan Beck
Principal Investigator/Director
“The Future Workforce Begins with a Spark”
Let’s create a spark to ignite possibilities and open access to drive the future of tomorrow’s Autonomous Technologies Workforce.
I believe inspiration drives meaning in education. My name is Jon Beck and I am the Executive Director for the National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT). NCAT was recently funded as a National Center under the NSF ATE program. I’ve been a faculty member and instructor at Northland Community and Technical College with the Unmanned Aircraft Systems programs for the last ten years. It wasn’t until I started teaching that I developed a full appreciation for education. I now understand the STEM movement and how technician careers drive the United States economy.
This video demonstrates cultivating imagination fueled with fascination. The result is driving new opportunities for autonomous technologies that will benefit society and the way we see the world. Innovation requires this curiosity-based drive. It also requires diverse perspectives and ideas. This is why NCAT believes in student competitions and STEM engagement to inspire students. The highly skilled technical workforce requires motivated lifelong learners from a broad pool including underrepresented populations. We are opening doors for people, leading to a better society and an incredible future.
Let real activities drive communication of future opportunities.
Questions that we will seek to address:
How do we effectively evaluate the long term impact of student competitions and STEM engagement activities?
Jonathan Beck
Principal Investigator/Director
Additional Questions from the NCAT team
What methods can educators use to increase access, and increase inclusion of underrepresented groups to STEM education?
What is the long-term impact of STEM competitions on participant career choices. What tools and methods can be used to track these students?
How do students’ perspectives of Autonomous Technology compare between groups in STEM competitions and groups not in STEM Competitions?
What is the corporate perspective of the impact of STEM outreach programs?
How do educators and school administrators know which STEM competition is right for their school? This is a complicated question with many factors. A matrix for educators to evaluate the major STEM outreach programs would compare important criteria including price, time commitment, season schedule, skills learned, student centers vs mentor led, lab space requirements, access to competitions, target age, links to websites, and other criteria. This tool would prove valuable for decision makers to directly compare STEM outreach programs. A consumer reports for STEM competitions.
Dave Miller
Terrific video and valuable work, Jonathan. So glad you've shared it, here. I'll echo Wing's comment about recruiting - would like to have some insight into the tools & methods & personalized touch that you're using to attract students. Also wondering about any specific elements you're generating that can be adapted to / integrated with K-12 math & science classrooms.
Jonathan Beck
Principal Investigator/Director
As a result of the COVID-19 mitigation many of our summer camps have been cancelled. NCAT looks at this as an opportunity to develop resources to help the Autonomous community. We are currently assembling a plan to develop videos, lesson plans, activities, and assessments which will be open to educators. This digital content will be great resources for educators. All of this in the development phase with the intent to produce over the summer months. The intent is to share these materials with educators as open educational resources.
One of our NCAT partners MATE has developed a "ROV in a bag" https://www.marinetech.org/mate-loaner-rov-kit-request-form-/ :
MATE also has a mechanism to keep students engaged and that is by the progression of competition classes or “levels”.
-SCOUT (entry-level)
-NAVIGATOR (beginner-intermediate)
-RANGER (intermediate)
-EXPLORER (advanced)
The progressive structure MATE has put in place complements the educational pipeline by providing students with the opportunity to build upon their skills as they engineer increasingly more complex technology for increasingly more complex tasks, allowing them to stay engaged and advance after they master each level. As such, the competition classes are not defined by grade level, but rather by the knowledge, skills, creativity, innovation and motivation of the student teams.
MATE is both after school or in-school; teachers, mentors, and event parents implement the project in a variety of ways.
MATE’s pricing for the programs differs as they strive to keep it accessible to a wide and diverse audience of students. Jill Zande, MATE II President/Executive Director can provide additional details, but for example, registration for the MATE Competition currently ranges from $50 - $400, depending on the competition class that you enter. Unlike other programs out there, you are not required to use MATE ROV kits; MATE created them (via funding from ITEST grant) to reduce barriers to participation, but not as a requirement for competition. MATE kits currently range from $190 - $725, depending on the complexity.
Gerhard Salinger
Retired Program Officer
Some time ago there was a discussion that boys took over in mixed groups. An all girl group took time to think about about different designs and came up with a better design. What is your experience with outcomes in single gender and mixed gender groups?
Jonathan Beck
Principal Investigator/Director
That’s a great question Gerhard! I referred this question to our DRONETECH Director – Thomas Biller, who works with student competition groups, particularly for the RAD Aerial Drone Competition. He responded by stating: “I have also seen where male students have taken over in a mixed-group setting. However, I believe it narrows down to the students personality type, as I’ve also seen where a female student takes charge in a group setting. As far as an all-female student team working together, there was an all-female team that won the Minnesota State Championship Robotics Aerial Drone Competition this year. I truly believe that male and female students are both equal when it comes to STEM activities, especially in the world of drones. The skill sets aren’t reliant on physical traits as much as problem-solving skills and creativity.”
Jonathan Beck
Principal Investigator/Director
Speaking with Andrew Dahlen, Mechatronics Instructor at Northland Community and Technical College, VEX Robotics Coordinator, and major contributor for NCAT, he had this to say. The group dynamics in mixed gender teams is always very interesting to observe. There are always exceptions to these statements, but generally speaking we find male students tend to grab leadership roles on the team. Many coaches have designed team management strategies which encourage all team members opportunities for growth and development. All female teams do have some advantages and have experienced tremendous success in this program.
Cheryl Canova
Good job! I would also like some specifics on your recruitment techniques, for both students and instructors. What are the costs for starting the different programs? Is this an after school program or part of the school curriculum?
Jonathan Beck
Principal Investigator/Director
Andrew Dahlen, Mechantronics Instructor at Northland Community and Technical College and VEX Robotics Coordinator has helped our region grow from five VEX teams (8 years ago) to more than 400 teams in our region today. The startup costs for equipment vary for the three programs represented in the video. A VEX Robotics team needs about $1,500, a VEX IQ team needs roughly $300 and a RAD team needs $300 for equipment startup. The Robotics Education and Competition Foundation has historically offered grants to new team start-ups and girl-powered teams. They’ve also even offered a regional grant to start new competition teams. Here is a link to apply for these: https://www.roboticseducation.org/grants/
These programs also require teams to register on Robotevents.com. For more information on starting a team look at this resource: https://www.roboticseducation.org/documents/2019/06/how-to-start-and-organize-a-vrc-team-2.pdf/
The MATE ROV kit and materials were listed earlier but I’ll repost to ensure they are not missed. The pricing for the MATE’s programs differs as they strive to keep it accessible to a wide and diverse audience of students. Jill Zande, MATE II President/Executive Director can provide additional details, but for example, registration for the MATE Competition currently ranges from $50 - $400, depending on the competition class that you enter. Unlike other programs out there, you are not required to use MATE ROV kits; MATE created them (via funding from ITEST grant) to reduce barriers to participation, but not as a requirement for competition. MATE kits currently range from $190 - $725, depending on the complexity. More information can be found at: https://www.marinetech.org/mate-loaner-rov-kit-...
Holly Morin
Ann-Claire Anderson
Hi, Jonathan--
I've been thinking about your question "How do we effectively evaluate the long term impact of student competitions and STEM engagement activities?"
I guess one answer would be tracking the students' postsecondary jobs or college programs. That kind of longitudinal approach might be a starting point. The problem is that the STEM pipeline is leaky, so entry to a program and persistence in the technical field might be two different metrics. The competition format looks phenomenal! I want to echo Cheryl's question: is robotics integrated in the curriculum or is this primarily an after school or camp program?
Jonathan Beck
Principal Investigator/Director
NCAT has been investigating this and would be very interested in solutions. We've found challenges a process to track students participating at the k-12 level into their educational tracks and careers based on data collection sensitivity. See the responses above to address you second question about the integration into programs and after school activities.
Jill Zande
Hi Anne-Claire,
I added a reply to your question below, as a separate post, before seeing the reply option here. Please have a look!
Jill Zande President/Executive Director, MATE Inspiration for Innovation (MATE II) Associate Director & Competition Coordinator, MATE CenterCo-Principal Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT)
Mercy Mugo
Senior Research Analyst and Grants Specialist
Great work exposing students to STEM early in their academic careers. Like many others on this thread, I would like to know how you recruited your participants. Are they in different grade levels? Do they come from the same school or different schools? How long is the training?
Jonathan Beck
Principal Investigator/Director
Please see the earlier responses and let me know if you have more questions that have not been addressed.
Nahid Nariman
Wow! Jon, this is amazing. I am so excited that you are creating opportunities for so many students to be creative and innovate new solutions all of their own. How would this plan be taken to other states? I am working with high-school students in Hawaii and believe if you expose students to their true strength at younger age, they will grow to better know their abilities and strengths and will be more interested in STEM. Have you done any data collection of learning about students’ interest before and after these projects?
Andrew Dahlen
We did a few studies back in 2013-2015 for the 360 Manufacturing ATE Center of Excellence related to VEX Robotics. These are the high level findings:
The majority of youth respondents felt that they learned many skills very well by working with their team, particularly “imagination and creativity” (74%) and “working by trial and error” (73%).
Youth reported greater interest and confidence in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), as well as greater interest and awareness in manufacturing careers.
Youth and adults reported more favorable opinions of STEM and manufacturing careers after completing the VEX program.
This model is very portable for other states. In fact Hawaii has some concentration of VEX Teams in Hilo Hawaii. You can find the names by searching robotevents.com
Andrew Dahlen
Mechatronics Instructor
VEX Robotics Coordinator
Northland Community and Technical College
Jeremy Roschelle
Director
HI Jonathan and team, great music -- woke me up this morning -- and an inspiring video overall. Keep up the great work!
I participated in First Lego competitions as a coach/parent and one thing I observed is that the rubrics for scoring were key to the well-roundedness of the approach. Because they gave 1/4 points only for completing missions, and other points had to do with collaboration/teamwork and quality of code and a passion project, teams didn't focus only on making the robot do everything -- and the multiple dimensions allowed multiple kids on the team to lead and thrive. I also observed it was a great occasion for white-collar parents to share their work experience with kids. These make me wonder about two things:
best,
jeremy
Andrew Dahlen
Greetings Jeremy,
I was a Lego League coach for 10 years so I appreciate your sentiments.
The question about parents meaningfully involved is a challenge for these programs. It is important for the competition to remain student centered. Parents, coaches, and mentors can not do the work. We refer to parent designed and built robots as "daddy bots" and "mommy bots". For STEM programs to be meaningful the students need to do the work and that means that they will occasionally fail. FYI, fails stand for "First Attempt In Learning". Students learn more when they try and fail vs. watching the parent or mentor do the work. Also when there is a challenge during an event parents need to let the students handle it on their own. We need to teach our youth how face adverse situations straight on. Find the facts, cite the specific rules and regulations, provide evidence, keep calm, and respect the decisions of the volunteer staff. Parental contributions are welcome, but we need to direct their efforts in such a way that the students are making decisions for the team.
On another note, I had a conversation with a girls basketball coach a while back. Girls basketball is relatively new. He stated years ago parents of girl players were uninterested. Things really changed when the girls who themselves played back in high school had daughters of their own playing in high school. When this happened the parental contribution and drive turned up to 11. I believe as robotics competitions mature as an intellectual sport, the sons and daughters of robotics alumnus will be overwhelmed by parental support. This could be a really interesting research topic.
The VEX competitions rubrics also encourage teamwork: "Students can explain how multiple team members contributed to the robot design and game strategy. All students answer questions independently." I have judged many competitions and find it encouraging when each member speaks directly about their contribution to the team. Of course this is not always the case. Some teams have one dominant member which is clear in the interviews. When everyone brings a contribution to the team effort, the results are apparent in the judges assessment.
Andrew Dahlen
Mechatronics Instructor
VEX Robotics Coordinator
Northland Community and Technical College
Holly Morin
Jill Zande
Hi Anne-Claire,
I'm Jill Zande, a Co-PI on the MATE and NCAT grants and the President/Executive Director of MATE II. I'll answer your question, "How do we effectively evaluate the long term impact of student competitions and STEM engagement activities?" from the perspective of the MATE Global ROV Competition (www.materovcompetition.org), which was created back in 2001 with NSF ATE funding and expanded with support from NSF's ITEST program.
Over the years, we've collected registration data on the students who take part in the competition. We recently completed our second survey of MATE competition "alumni" - we focused on students who have participated in our program and are now either pursuing higher education or in the workforce. Those results are literally "hot off the presses," so I haven't had time to update the results from the first competition alumni survey we administered in 2015, but you can see the type of data we collected presented in the infographic located here - https://materovcompetition.org/sites/default/files/2019_MATE_Infographic.pdf.
Further, as a condition of being awarded our last ITEST grant (in 2013), we were asked to investigate the answer to a very similar question - essentially, how do ROV competition students' future education/degree program choices compare to those who haven't participated in the ROV competition? Are they more or less likely to pursue a STEM degree? You can find information on the paths we took to get at that, including dead ends as well as eventually progress with the National Student Clearinghouse (I'm currently waiting for the report on our second data match, which was sent in earlier this year) via our evaluation reports located here - https://www.marinetech.org/itest/ (you will need to create a login, but it's easy and it's free!).
Happy to talk more - see my contact information below.
Take care!
Jill Zande President/Executive Director, MATE Inspiration for Innovation (MATE II) Associate Director & Competition Coordinator, MATE CenterCo-Principal Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT) jzande@marinetech.org (831) 646-3082
Holly Morin
Nick Lux
Such an exciting video documenting an even more exciting project! You have clearly built a super inclusive approach to encourage interest in autonomous technologies. My 4th grader is totally captivated by drone technology and it's easy to see how compelling the competition side could be, not to mention the same with the VEX robots.
Have you found that the focus on the "soft skills" and "technical experience" to prepare them for a career in STEM has also influenced their identity as STEM professionals? In other words, in what ways might preparing them with the skills and experience also encourage them to see their future selves in STEM careers?
Zackary Nicklin
Hi Nick,
I think a mixture of the soft skills and technical experience help to build a strong foundation that can be built upon for the rest of their lives. Comfort with technology and troubleshooting, even small issues with their equipment, builds confidence in the participants. Soft skills allow for team building which not only encourages different ways of thinking but also allows the participants a comfort level with their peers. They may be more likely to seek out different opinions or viewpoints which in turn would make for a better technician as they would have the ability to approach the same problem in multiple ways in order to arrive at a solution.
Good peer interaction coupled with a healthy competitive environment drives interest and innovation, setting students up for a STEM career that they have already associated with fun, friends and a bit of a challenge!
Zack Nicklin
Co-Principle Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT)
UAS Program Manager, Northland Community and Technical College
Zackary Nicklin
Hi Nick,
I think a mixture of the soft skills and technical experience help to build a strong foundation that can be built upon for the rest of their lives. Comfort with technology and troubleshooting, even small issues with their equipment, builds confidence in the participants. Soft skills allow for team building which not only encourages different ways of thinking but also allows the participants a comfort level with their peers. They may be more likely to seek out different opinions or viewpoints which in turn would make for a better technician as they would have the ability to approach the same problem in multiple ways in order to arrive at a solution.
Good peer interaction coupled with a healthy competitive environment drives interest and innovation, setting students up for a STEM career that they have already associated with fun, friends and a bit of a challenge!
Zack Nicklin
Co-Principle Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT)
UAS Program Manager, Northland Community and Technical College
Mark Bealo
Great production! Was just wondering did you guys have an internal team shoot and edit the video or have to outsource it? Very nicely done, whichever route you had to go.
Chelsea Bladow
Equity & Inclusion Communications Director
Hi Mark,
Thank you for the comment! We had a video production team come in to the MN Vex Robotics State Championship Tournament and the first MN RAD Aerial Drone Competition to shoot a series of five videos (this one included) for NCAT. We see and understand the power of video as an outreach tool and plan to utilize these videos to reach a broader network of students, parents, teachers and the workforce.
Amy Hutchison
Students seem so excited to be involved in this work! Thanks for sharing!
Gerhard Salinger
Retired Program Officer
Have you thought about what measurable outcomes would lead you (and (ATE) to say this project has been a success?
Jill Zande
Hi Gerhard,
From the perspective of the MATE ROV Competition, yes! The fact that it was created with funding from NSF ATE and in partnership with the Marine Technology Society, is rooted in workforce development, carried out its first event in 2001, is still going strong with 41 regional competition programs across the U.S. and around the world, and would have celebrated its 19th annual World Championship this year had it not been for COVID-19, I would say that it has been a success. The data presented here https://materovcompetition.org/sites/default/files/2019_MATE_Infographic.pdf also speaks to its success and impact.
We recently completed a 2nd competition "alumni" survey as well as a 2nd data match with the National Student Clearinghouse. We'll have those results posted soon!
Jill Zande President/Executive Director, MATE Inspiration for Innovation (MATE II) Associate Director & Competition Coordinator, MATE CenterCo-Principal Investigator, National Center for Autonomous Technologies (NCAT)
Michael I. Swart
Cool, fun and engaging work. The video mentioned training teachers to bring innovative approaches for fostering collaboration and soft skills - can y'all expound on the theoretical framework of these innovative approaches, the constructs that are operationalized, the data collection/metrics to evaluate them and the outcomes that highlight impacts?
Further posting is closed as the event has ended.