1. FIRST Robotics In VA Schools: Making a Lasting Impact on Academic Trajectories Nate Laverdure A Presentation To: Virginia Department of Education Division of Technology & Career Education

2. FIRST Lego League FIRST Tech Challenge FIRST Robotics Competition (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology)

3. 2007 Competition: “Rack & Roll”

4. 2002 Competition: “Zone Zeal”

5. 2006 Competition: “Aim High”

6. 2005 Competition: “Triple Play”

7. FIRST is Expanding 37,000 Students 1,500 Teams from 8 countries and every state in the U.S. 41 Regional Events in Brazil, Canada, Israel, U.S. FIRST 2007 Annual Report

8. FIRST is Making an Impact 2005 Independent study by Brandeis University Funded by the Ford Foundation

9. Why are Science and Technology Careers Important in VA? An engineering gap? In an apples-to-apples comparison, the US still confers more four-year engineering degrees than India, and its gap with China is less than half of what other reports suggest. ENGINEERINGU.S.*INDIACHINA Bachelor’s Degrees137,437112,000351,537 Associate degrees84,898103,000292,569 (or equivalent**) *US figures adjusted to reflect more inclusive measures used by India **Three-year diplomas in India; short-cycle degrees in China China graduates twice as many engineers as U.S. Important to a sustainable & independent economy Image: Christian Science Monitor; Data: Duke University Study

10. Image: “Construction of the Three Gorges Dam” by Flickr user H@r@ld (some rights reserved)

11. Image: Millau Viaduct (in public domain)

12. Image: Venetian Buildings by The Triple Bottom Line Blog; wwwgetsustainable.net (all rights reserved)

13. Why are Science and Technology Careers Important in VA? Digest of Education Statistics, 2006 Engineering may be undervalued Cannot change the economy Must change the culture

14. Football heroes Political heroes Comic book heroes Business heroes Fireman heroes Music heroes War heroes Astronaut heroes Religious heroes TV heroes …& Guitar Heroes } Why not science & technology heroes? Changing Culture

16. The FIRST Vision "To transform our culture by creating a world where science and technology are celebrated and where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes.“ — Dean Kamen, FIRST Founder