Teaching BattleBots in High School

Some Guy writes: "We all know that everyone's favourite TV show is BattleBots on Comedy Central, Right? Well, a new program has started at my old high school that teaches BattleBots to kids. It's a truly engaging engineering program/curriculum that kids and school systems can use for credit. The program is called BattleBots IQ. Kids out there can get their teachers to go to battlebots training camps during the summer, and then have them teach battlebots to them as a class. I wish it was around when I was a kid."

Comments

Re:Liability

[Anonymous Coward]

Lots of schools do offer metal working or wood shop or something along those lines. Building robots would be like the AP version.

I would like to see.

[Real World Stuff]

More focus on the fundamentals. This only furthers the chasm for equality of quality education. There are public schools where kids are trying to learn the fundamentals of math ans scicene in an environment with leaky roofs and inadequate heating. Sure, schools that can afford to offer a battle bot curriculum usually do not face this type of challenge. But what is the percedntage. Rather invest in this type of project, wht not buy some kids some CURRENT TEXTBOOKS! For those that own any property and pay taxes, you should understand what I am saying.

Re:I would like to see.

[Kaboom13]

As a high school student in South Florida(where Battlebots IQ originated), and a participant in the FIRST Robotics Competition (Battlebots IQ is run by the same person who used to run an unofficial FIRST competition called Mayhem in Miami), I feel obligated to respond. The school you describe is only found in the poorest or the poor districts. That kind of school system definitly is not worried about a battlebot curriculum. They are few and far between. As far as current textbooks, all the new textbooks I've seen and used have been vastly inferior to the ones it replaced. My brand new calculus book is completely useless as anything other then a source for problems for home work. Trust me on this, new textbook != better textbook. Furthermore, this program is no more expensive then any athletic team, and is, in my opinion, a much better use of our funds.

Interesting

[anthony_dipierro]

Teaching violence and destruction to our nation's youth in order to increase the corporate revenues of Comedy Central. Thank God vouchers were deemed constitutional.

Learning isn't fun

[meta-monkey]

I have mixed feelings about stories like this. Why does learning have to be fun? Parents and schools try to get kids interested in math, reading, and, in this case, engineering, by turning it into some kind of game. There are educational computer games, board games, flash cards, and "fun" courses like this.

However, in the real world, learning, and science, are quite often not fun. They are often tedious and frustrating, and it's important for kids to learn that lesson. There are other rewards for learning besides "fun" and kids need to learn that, or when they get beyond the educational computer games and battle bots high school classes, and encounter the tedious and frustrating world of real science/mathematics/engineering and discover it's not "fun" they may just give it up entirely.

Re:Learning isn't fun

[Froobly]

Your post seems to legitimize the fact that many schools across America are teaching as preparation for factory work; i.e. it's not about enjoying what you're doing, or making effort to excel, but about showing up and putting in your time. Really, who makes extra effort to excel when they don't enjoy it? Well, besides those abusive ultra-competitive households...

Do we really need more busywork in our schools? I've known students from schools that have fun and interesting programs like this, and from my unscientific experience, the ones who had classes like this generally have a much stronger long-term interest in math and science than those who didn't. It usually takes terrible University professors to beat it out of them...

Re:Learning IS fun

[helarno]

I have to respectfully disagree with your hypothesis that learning isn't fun. Granted, some parts are tedious, some parts are repetitive and frustration is no stranger during the learning process. However, the joy of discovery, the eureka moment when it all clicks into place, the self-confidence when you realize you have mastered a subject - I say all these more than counterbalance the tedious aspects of learning. Learning is its own reward. Mastering a matter makes it a joy all of its own.

Especially in this crowd, claiming that learning is no fun won't fly. What geek hasn't encountered frustration configuring something in linux? What geek hasn't repetitively typed man (subject)? Yet I will lay odds that few geeks will claims computers are no fun, that linux is boring.

Pardon me for preaching off a soapbox, but the attitude that 'learning isn't fun' bugs the hell out of me. It is that attitude that keeps people watching TV rather than reading a good book, or play video games till 5am while neglecting homework. The rewards aren't as immediate as other activities but learning IS fun, rewarding and enjoyable as long as we stick to it.

So make battlebot classes fun. I'll guarantee you that if those kids are actually building those bots, they'll encounter the tedium and frustration of engineering. But will that stop them from having fun in the end? Probably not. But it may encourage some of them to try something they never would have, and learn something in the process.