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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Robotics for my younger son.  It didn't take in the elementary years through toys, camps, etc.

Then all of a sudden it took in 9th grade.  Because high-school level robotics is much more serious than the next age groups down.

I also recommend robotics for girls.  Great place to learn computer programming, mechanical fabrication skills, project teams that are more productive than schoolwork project groups.

For me it was high school choir as a class. My mom made me because I had dropped all my instruments I started.  I didn't want to at first.  But I liked it because it didn't require boring at-home practicing, lessons, and instruments transport, while still allowing music-making.  I ended up meeting my husband in college choir.

Robotics and choir are also not as expensive as extracurricular sports.

[/quote]

Why would ANYONE encourage their dc to spend more time with devices? I don't get this at all. Same with "coding" classes for dc, coding isn't that hard they can learn it if they choose to - especially with AI - so why impose such an unhealthy habit on them?[/quote]

It's very rude of you, PP,  to be so judgmental.

A lot of high school robotics is more similar to large appliance repair than "being on devices".  When you are building, maintaining, and remote control driving a physical object that fits in a 3 foot by 3 foot by 4 foot tall space, you are not just sitting down and using a device. There is a lot of work to operate physical machines to make the parts and standing during creation, maintenance, and driving.  My child actually isn't interested in the coding part, so he uses screens less than the coders.  But he has taught himself CAD, which is helping him with advanced math and logic skills (part designs are 3D).

Many people have hobbies with computer interface aspects to them.  Should I stop doing online genealogy?

Regarding coding, I mentioned that because a lot of coding training that kids do does not lead to real world implementation. And currently there are a lot of kids who want to become CS majors. In FRC robotics, the coding determines how the robot moves and how accurate it is, and that is directly related to whether the robot wins versus opponents.  FRC robots are not battling but instead competing at task completion at the same time in the same arena.  So winning and losing is versus other teams.  As with sports, the game outcomes contribute to a performance feedback loop.  And contribute to team bonding.

One thing that is true about the physicality of high school robotics - it is sports-like in that you belong to a team and win and lose together.  But you will not get overuse injuries.  My children have friends who have overuse and accidental leg injuries, particularly from soccer and track.  Also, as a person who reads scholarship essays for a PTA, I can say that "how I overcame my season-ending injury" is a common essay topic among top high school students.

Robotics basically leads to applied knowledge.  Much of what our kids learn in school is just fact cramming. Opportunities to apply knowledge are precious and develop thinking skills and maturity.  Our team also has a nice mix of girls and boys which I think is great prep for an egalitarian workplace (some activities seem to gender sort themselves...our high school drama club has become very skewed female).

Hopefully the information above is useful to someone interested in robotics as an option.  I doubt PP really cares to know.[/quote]

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