The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
The Center for Youth and Communities

FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) is a global nonprofit organization that operates in school and after-school robotics team-based robotics programs for young people ages 4-18. The mission of FIRST® is to “provide life-changing robotics programs that give young people the skills, confidence, and resilience to build a better world”. 

About The FIRST® Longitudinal Study (FLS)

In 2011, FIRST® contracted with the Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and Management to conduct a multi-year longitudinal study of FIRST®'s middle and high school programs. The goal of the study, building on more than a decade of short-term evaluation studies by Brandeis University and others, was to document the longer-term impacts of FIRST® programs on participating youth and to do so through a design that meets the standards for rigorous, scientifically-based evaluation research. Three major questions guided the survey:

  1. What are the short and longer-term impacts of the FIRST® LEGO League, FIRST® Tech Challenge, and FIRST® Robotics Competition programs on program participants?
  2. What is the relationship between program experience and impact?
  3. To what extent are there differences in experiences and impacts among key subgroups of FIRST® participants?

10 years after the program, FIRST® participants consistently report significantly higher STEM interest and attitudes scores, significantly higher rates of majoring in STEM overall and in Engineering and Computer Science particularly, and significantly higher rates of working in a STEM field. These results are strongest for female FIRST® participants.

You can read the final report of the 10-year FIRST® Longitudinal Study here.

 

Additional reports include:

Interview Study with FIRST® Female Participants

College and Postsecondary Outcomes Data Memo

A Summary of the Study’s Methods

FIRST® Longitudinal Study Presentation Slides (2023, 10-year data)

Academic Paper: Transforming STEM outcomes (School Science and Mathematics, 2022)