Building for Tomorrow

The Building for Tomorrow project is bringing together teachers from 35 urban high schools for participation in structured professional development workshops that are equipping them to attract underrepresented high school students into science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) fields. The medium for this is participation in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition and other national SMET competitions. With participation in these competitions, students are increasing their interest in SMET careers, and this interest is translating into increased enrollment and success in related high school courses and in SMET majors at postsecondary institutions.

The collaborating institutions (Middlesex Community College, St. Louis Community College, and San Diego City College) are conducting a series of summer institutes to train teams of practicing high school teachers and preservice teachers from urban districts so they may guide their students through these tournaments. The institutes also assist the teams to establish partnerships with corporations and academic institutions to support the participation of their high schools in SMET competitions.

FIRST is sponsoring an annual robotics competition that partners teams of high school students with engineers from businesses and universities and introduces the students to the excitement of engineering. In a six-week program, each team is brainstorming, designing, constructing, and testing a champion robot for the tournament. Through these activities, students are discovering the connection between classroom lessons and real world applications. Annually, teams from about 400 schools are participating in FIRST regional and national competitions.

The strategic goals of Building for Tomorrow are to:

1. Cultivate and direct student enthusiasm, generated by participation in national and local SMET-related competitions, towards effective learning.

2. Capitalize on students desire to succeed in SMET competitions to expand their knowledge of and interest in SMET disciplines and SMET careers in industry and education through transmission of real-time competition-related information ( e.g., how to design, engineer, problem solve, construct, communicate ideas, and work in teams.)

3. Increase SMET high school teacher knowledge of and ability to apply effective team building, project management, effective communication, creative problem-solving, time management, and conflict resolution.