The BEST students in science and technology invade Fort Smith
by October 31, 2009 7:07 pm 106 views
Metro Homeschool out of the Kansas City, Mo.-area took first place honors at the River Valley BEST Robotics competition, with high school students from Magazine and junior high school students from Chaffin Junior High School in Fort Smith placing second and third, respectively.
The robotics competition, held Saturday (Oct. 31) at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, is part of a national robotics program that seeks to provide high school and junior high school students from across the country with hands-on robotics lessons.
BEST Robotics Inc. (Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) is a non-profit, volunteer organization based in Dallas that began in 1993 with 14 competing schools and 221 students. Today, BEST has more than 700 middle and high schools and more than 10,000 students participating each fall, according to the BEST Web site.
BEST features two parallel competitions: A robotics game, based upon an annual theme with four teams competing at once in a series of three-minute, round-robin matches. Also, the BEST Award is presented to the team that “best embodies the concept of Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology. Elements include a project summary notebook, oral presentation, table display, and spirit and sportsmanship,” according to the organization.
Each school is provided kits of equipment and parts, a set of game rules, and given six weeks to design, build, and test a small Radio/Controlled (R/C) robot that outperforms other robots. Winning teams from local competition sites (called “hubs”) advance to regional championship sites (“regionals”).
The theme for the 2009 BEST Robotics competition is “High Octane,” focusing on renewable energy sources. The game objective is to use the robot to collect and employ “molecules” and essential resources to complete a series of chain reactions. Teams perform these tasks using radio-controlled robots. Points are awarded based on completion of the tasks.
John Martini, the River Valley BEST competition director for UAFS, said the event helps deliver a broad range of skill sets and skills awareness to the students. Martini is also president of the BEST national board of directors.
“The biggest part of BEST is the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, but with all the behind-the-scenes work there are a lot of other things they learn,” Martini said Saturday during a break in the competition.
Some of those things include preparing an exhibit (marketing lessons) and a project notebook (communication skills), Martini added.
“Most of them (students) don’t realize what they are doing or learning. They’re just having fun, but in that having fun part they are learning science and math and all the other things,” Martini said.
The 12 teams competing in the River Valley BEST event were: Alma High School, Cedarville High School, Chaffin Junior High, Darby/Kimmons junior highs, Haskell (Okla.) High School, J.D. Leftwich High School (Magazine), Metro Homeschool of Blue Springs, Mo., Mountainburg School, Mulberry/Pleasant View School District, Northside High School, Southside High School and Western Arkansas Technical Center.
Link here for a complete list of awards issued during Saturday’s competition.
The winners of Saturday’s competition will compete in the Frontier Trails BEST Robotics Competition, which will be held Dec. 4-5 at UA Fort Smith and downtown at the Fort Smith Convention Center.
