Over 175 elementary, middle, and high school teams have registered to compete in the 2017-2018 Regional Autonomous Robotics Circuit (RARC) Competition 3 this Saturday, April 28, 2018, at the Bossier Civic Center. Public and private schools as well as afterschool programs in Bossier, Caddo, Natchitoches, Sabine, and Webster Parishes and Miller County, Arkansas, will be represented.
RARC is a series of three cyber and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) competitions for students in grades 3-12. The competitions build upon one another and allow teams to showcase their STEM and 21st Century skills by competing against other teams within their division. Liberal arts lessons are also integrated to provide a context for the content. The competitions are sponsored by the Cyber Innovation Center’s National Integrated Cyber Education Research Center (NICERC), the City of Bossier City, Bossier Parish Schools, and Caddo Parish Schools.
This year’s theme is Small Wonders, Big Possibilities. The teams will explore concepts like genetics, chemistry, and, of course, robotics while participating in challenges on a competition mat designed to look like a laboratory. Competition 3 includes a mystery round with challenges that will not be revealed to the teams until mid-competition. The student team member must work together without assistance from any adults to program their robots to accomplish the mystery challenge.
Trophies will be awarded to the top three teams in each division, and grand champion technology awards will be presented to the top three schools in each division.
Elementary school teams will compete in the morning beginning at 8 a.m. and will receive their awards at approximately 11:30 a.m. The middle and high school divisions will begin at 12:00 p.m. with winners announced at approximately 3:40 p.m. The competition is open to the public.
To learn more about RARC, please visit http://nicerc.org/rarc/ or www.facebook.com/CIC.NICERC.
Look! Jay L. Sessions, our old Robotics group.