Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
Impact
The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation’s mission is to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, affordable and sustainable robotics engineering programs.
Accomplished
- Need Accomplished
- Evaluation Developing
- Sustainability Developing
- Replication & Scalability Accomplished
- Partnerships Accomplished
- Capacity Accomplished
- Challenging & Relevant Content Accomplished
- STEM Practices Accomplished
- Inspiration Accomplished
- Under-Represented Groups Developing
I can tell you the kids coming out of here are kids that can work at Google. They know how to work as a team. They know how to program and they know how to deal with failure.”
VP of Engineering, Google
Design Principles
The programs in this database clear a high bar. STEMworks reviewed each program against the Design Principles for Effective STEM Philanthropy. Programs must be Accomplished (
) across all Design Principles, or be Developing (
) in a maximum of three areas.
Overarching Principles
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Need Accomplished
Identify and target a compelling and well-defined need.
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Evaluation Developing
Use rigorous evaluation to continuously measure and inform progress towards the compelling need identified.
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Sustainability Developing
Ensure work is sustainable.
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Replication & Scalability Accomplished
Demonstrate replicability and scalability.
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Partnerships Accomplished
Create high impact partnerships.
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Capacity Accomplished
Ensure organizational capacity to achieve goals.
STEM Principles
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Challenging & Relevant Content Accomplished
Offer challenging and relevant STEM content for the target audience.
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STEM Practices Accomplished
Incorporate and encourage STEM practices.
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Inspiration Accomplished
Inspire interest and engagement in STEM.
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Under-Represented Groups Developing
Identify and address the needs of under-represented groups.
Program Overview
The REC Foundation serves over 20,000 student-led teams from elementary school through college to engage them in educational robotics opportunities throughout the U.S. and across 50 countries. The REC Foundation works in close partnership with VEX Robotics, Inc., creator of the robotics kits and educational tools used by students, educators and mentors. Each year, the two organizations unveil new engineering game challenges for the VEX IQ Challenge and the VEX Robotics Competition. Students, led by their teachers and mentors, form teams and design, build, and program a robot for competition. The REC Foundation supports the success of students and their teams with a vibrant competition experience that challenges their creativity, encourages teamwork and communication, and values hands-on engineering and programming experience. Creating a workforce prepared to solve our future problems depends on our ability to harness students’ natural curiosity, engage them in meaningful learning opportunities to incite passion and expand their interest in a variety of subjects. The VEX Competition experience provides just that type of environment, ensuring we have lifelong learners, excited to contribute to their future and ours.
Funders and Partners
Sponsors include the Northrop Grumman Foundation, Autodesk, DELL, Google, NASA, and Texas Instruments. Partners include BEST, PLTW, NSBE, ITEEA, and Great Minds in STEM.