Dean Kamen’s Mission: Trick kids into loving science and math.

Dean Kamen, serial inventor and founder of FIRST Robotics, started FIRST with the mission of “tricking kids into loving science and math.”  Kamen saw that our kids were not interested in majoring in science, technology, engineering and math fields.  Kamen understood kids’ fascination with robots.

He founded FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) Lego League in 1998 with 28 teams and roughly 280 kids.  FIRST Lego League now has 18,323 teams around the globe with approximately 165,000 kids participating.  The explosive growth speaks volumes about FLL’s ability to engage and excite middle school students at a critical time when they tend to lose interest in science and math.  Quantitative research conducted by Brandeis University confirms that all of the FIRST programs are highly effective in changing perceptions about science, math and engineering.

While Kamen should be congratulated, the challenge remains to engage a much higher percentage of our students in afterschool STEM teams like FIRST Lego League.