Texas Tech University
TTU HomeWhitacre College of Engineering STEM Outreach GEAR - Get Excited About Robotics

GEAR Information for Schools

Registration

Download the Registration Form here.

Each school will be provided with a GEAR game mat and a set of game pieces.  Schools can request up to 6 NXT kits for the duration of the competition, however, resources are limited. Please return this form by email to tanja.karp@ttu.edu or fax to 806.742.1245.

 

Schools

2013 Participating Schools


View GEAR 2013 Competition at Texas Tech University in a larger map

The GEAR competition leaves a large degree of flexibility to schools in how and to what extent they want to participate in the competition.  In the past, participation has varied from a single team with 3 participants from a school to up to 10 teams with over 50 participants.  All participating school teams need to have a teacher who sponsors the school team(s).

Schools decide how they want to participate in the GEAR competition.  In the past, some schools offered LEGO robotics as an after school activity while others incorporated the activity into their math, science, technology, or GT classes.  Teams meet between once a week after school to 5 days a week in class.  Students must have access to a computer lab at the schools in order to program their robots.

  • Participating in the GEAR competition is free of charge, but registration is required.
  • Each participating school will receive a set of game pieces, a game mat, and the competition rules during the kick-off event.
  • A limited number of LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kits are available for schools to check out for the duration of the competition.
  • The competition will be partly organized by engineering freshmen students enrolled in ENGR 1315: Introduction to Engineering. They will be available to mentor school teams and assist coaches in the Lubbock area.
    • They will have prior experience to the design and programming process with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT kits.
    • Engineering students will be teamed up with schools depending on their schedule.
    • The GEAR competition serves as a service learning project in the class and they will receive course credit for participation.
    • Research has shown that an early exposure to meaningful engineering design projects improves the level of understanding
    • Service learning also improves retention rates among engineering freshmen.
  • We will offer webinars/online mentoring for participating schools further away from Lubbock.