About FIRST Place
FIRST Place (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is an innovative educational facility supporting inventor/entrepreneur Dean Kamen's national program to create interest in science and math by engaging young people in the world of engineering and robotics.
FIRST Senior Robotics Competition began in 1999, when 274 high school teams, mentored by local engineering and technology firms, each created a robot in 6 weeks. The student-designed robots compete regionally, and then nationally at Disney's EPCOT Center.
Based
on the success of this program, FIRST
Place was created as a facility to provide teachers
and students with an environment for exploring concepts
of math, science, and technology. They offer workshops
on teaching methods, calling upon educators, engineers,
scientists and technology specialists to serve as mentors.
FIRST Place
With
their skill in providing innovative, interactive teaching
methods, FIRST Place
and it's staff of educators and technologists use NHSGC support to develop space and Earth science
curricula for pre-service teachers at University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth
College.
FIRST Place staff and UNH Department of Education faculty work collaboratively on providing seminars for pre-service teachers. They offer professional development workshops and provide on-site consultation for New Hampshire school teachers, particularly science educators. UNH scientists and science educators are included as guest instructors.
These college level courses incorporate concepts and processes that cross many scientific disciplines, and are selected specifically for elementary school teachers. The course material reflects national/state standards and demonstrates methods of teaching and assessing elementary school students.
Their teaching method: content placed in context—using electromagnetism to build a motor to power something, building a robot to help with city infrastructure like painting lines on highways, or developing robotic ways of removing toxic waste.
FIRST Place staff also teach teachers how to set up a classroom for the best possible learning environment. They also have lots of ideas on making science material interesting. The ideas come from experts like Cynthia Randall at FIRST Place, and from scientists, engineers, and technology specialists who serve as mentors at FIRST Place.
NASA-funded educational materials are used and given to the students whenever possible, and occasionally the staff include demonstrations developed at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium (also a NH Space Grant affiliate).