The Gift of Failure

FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC) teams create a nurturing place for teens to fail fast. Beyond the important STEM skills that FTC team members acquire are the life skills that are not as easy to quantify. One of the most vital is gaining resiliency in the face of failure through project based, hands-on learning. FTC teams provide students a safe and supportive environment in which to fail.

Building and programming robots that are able to successfully complete the tasks designed by the FTC game makers is extremely challenging. A mechanism or software program will not work the first time. It may not work the second time and even the third time can be in doubt. However, with support from their team members and mentors, students learn from each failure. They apply the lessons they learned and try again and again and again until they succeed.

This repetitive process of learning through failure is not an option that is available in your typical academic classroom. As noted in this piece from the New York Times:

Learning from failure leads to humility, adaptation, and resiliency; unfortunately, most students are taught to fear failure from a young age….Eliminating the fear of failure in our students would make them more willing to seek academic challenges. Furthermore, this would extend beyond the classroom and into their lives as leaders of a rapidly evolving and ever-complex world.

(http://nytimesineducation.com/spotlight/facing-failure-and-breeding-success/)

Students in FTC programs are able to fail fast, adapt and apply the lessons learned. Experiencing that it is okay to fail, building resiliency in the face of failure, and recognizing that from failure comes knowledge is key to building a successful career and life.