Polling Other Robotics Teachers

The FIRST Robotic event that involved 8 Oregon high schools gave me an opportunity to get to know other teachers involved in robotics.  I created this on-line poll and asked all teachers to complete it for this report.  I also invited any interested mentors to fill out the portions of the questionnaire that they were able to answer.  The raw compiled results can be found here.

Note that in this edition of the form, the reporting function has been disabled.  Clicking on the 'Submit' button will not send the form.
 



Oregon FIRST Robotics Questionnaire

 

Hello Oregon FIRST teachers and mentors.  I am doing a master's degree project on adding robotics the high school curriculum.  It would be of help to me if you would fill out this form.

I will NOT publish publicly your name or opinions without your permission.  I may publish summations, and may publish anecdotal statements that don't identify the source.

Because I dislike forms that don't allow me to indicate what I really think, all questions below except for your name and school name are optional, and there is a large comment box at the end where you can write what you want.  You can also sent comments, questions, and suggestions to me at randy@randyboyd.com.

[FrontPage Save Results Component]


Thank you for taking the time to provide this information!

First Name (required)

Last Name (required)

School (required)

    
Teacher Mentor Both

Work Phone

E-mail
General Robotics Questions  (Please make any additional comments in the box at the bottom of this page)
1 At the beginning of the 2001-2002 school year, did your school have any courses specifically about robotics, or primarily about robotics? yes no
2 If yes to 1, please briefly describe the course(s).
3 If your answer to 1 was 'no', do you have any courses that include robotics instruction? yes no doesn't apply
4 If yes to 3, please briefly describe the course(s).
5 Estimate the demand for robotics courses at your school relative to what is currently offered.. high
moderate
low
6 Estimate the trend in demand for robotics courses and instruction at your school. increasing
steady
decreasing
FIRST Robotics Questions (Please make any additional comments in the box at the bottom of this page)

Overall Value of the Program

7 While there may be little doubt that the FIRST program will benefit students, what do you think of the cost compared to the benefits of the program? cost too much for the benefit
not sure
definitely worth doing
  other
8 Without regard to cost/benefit, do you feel that the FIRST program is worth the time and effort? yes
not sure
no

Interest in the Program
9 Number of students active on the team.   (enter a number)
10 Number of mentors who were not also a team parent.   (enter a number)
11 Number of teachers active with the team.   (enter a number)
12 Number of parents active with the team   (enter a number)
13 Student interest in doing it again?  [5=highest, 1=lowest] 5 4 3 2 1
not sure / no basis
14 Mentor interest in doing it again?  [5=highest, 1=lowest] 5 4 3 2 1
not sure / no basis
15 Teacher interest in doing it again?  [5=highest, 1=lowest] 5 4 3 2 1
not sure / no basis
16 Parent interest?  [5=highest, 1=lowest] 5 4 3 2 1
not sure / no basis
17 Community interest?  [5=highest, 1=lowest] 5 4 3 2 1
not sure / no basis
18 How would you rate your school's active support (not just verbal) of your FIRST team?  [5=highest, 1=lowest] 5 4 3 2 1
not sure / no basis
19 How would you rate your parent's active support (not just verbal) of your FIRST team?  [5=highest, 1=lowest] 5 4 3 2 1
not sure / no basis
20 How would you rate your community's active support (not just verbal) of your FIRST team?  [5=highest, 1=lowest] 5 4 3 2 1
not sure / no basis
21 Did your community news media cover your team?  If so, when did the articles / announcements happen?  Select all that apply. yes, before the Kickoff
yes, before the Regional
yes, during/after Regional
no

Financing and Purchasing
22 Did you expect the NASA grant money to be sufficient? yes    no
23 Was the NASA grant money alone sufficient?  yes    marginal    no
24 How much in donations did your team receive in addition to the grant?  For material donations, include the estimated value. 0 to $1000
$1000 to 2000
$2000 to 5000
$5000 or more
25 Grant money arrived at our schools about midway thru the building period.  Did this cause problems? Definitely
Some
Little
None
26 How would you rate your school's purchasing policies with regard to the ease of purchasing parts for your robot and for reimbursement of expenses. Hurt the team
Difficult to work with
Neutral
Easy to work with
Well suited for the activity

Future Strategies for Robotics at Your School

Because strategies can vary greatly, please use the general comment box below if needed for elaboration.
27 How much of the work done for your FIRST robotics project were you able to fit into your existing classes? All, or almost all
Over half
About half
Less than half
None, or almost none
28 Estimate how many hours of extracurricular time you spent (or will have spent) on the project as of April 24, 2002.   (enter a number)
29 Estimate how many hours of total volunteer time spent (or will have spent) on the project as of April 24, 2002 for all adults involved in the project.   (enter a number)
30 How important is it to be able to incorporate robotics into your classes for you to be able to support the FIRST team, or other robotics competitions, at your school in the future? Very important
Somewhat important
Neutral
Not very important
Not important
31 Do you want to have robotics classes at your school, even if you are not the teacher? yes no depends
32 What do you see as significant obstacles to adding robotics instruction at your school?  You can check more than one. funding
equipment
facilities
qualified staff
interest
other
Catchall Comment Box

 

Copyright © 2002 by Randy Boyd.  All rights reserved.
Revised: 06/05/03