Robotics Grant Develops Hands-On Learning Opportunities for CCS VEX IQ Teams

A $2,500 TVA STEM Robotics Award will help Chattanooga Christian School (CCS) expand opportunities for younger students to develop confidence, collaboration and engineering skills through competitive robotics.

Sponsored by Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Bicentennial Volunteers BVI and administered by the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network (TSIN) through Battelle, the grant will support CCS’s VEX IQ Robotics Competition program for students in grades 4–6. Funds will be used to purchase four additional competition robot kits and help cover team and event registration fees.

For CCS Robotics Coach Scott Rosenow, the grant represents an opportunity to give more students the equipment and experience they need to learn through designing, building, programming and problem-solving.

“The primary reason for writing the grant was the anticipated growth in the number of students and my goal of having enough equipment for every team,” Rosenow said.

With the additional kits, each team can work on building a new robot while continuing to drive and program its current competition robot. That flexibility will allow students to spend more time testing ideas, analyzing results and improving their designs—an iterative process central to both engineering and competitive robotics.

Building Confidence Through Challenge

CCS launched its VEX IQ program for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students during the 2025–2026 school year, creating a developmental pathway into the VEX V5 robotics program offered in Middle and High School.

The inaugural season included four teams: two sixth-grade teams, one fifth-grade team and one combined fourth- and fifth-grade team. Students quickly grew into the challenges of competitive robotics, earning regional awards and advancing to Tennessee state championship competitions.

Although the teams’ competitive achievements marked a strong first season, Rosenow said the students’ personal and technical development provides an even more meaningful measure of the program’s success.

“The less easy—but maybe more important—area of growth is the capacity of the participants,” Rosenow said. “They have grown tremendously from the first season of the program.”

Robotics gives students repeated opportunities to encounter a problem, investigate its causes and test possible solutions. Designs do not always work as intended, requiring students to adapt, persevere and learn from the results. Because students compete as teams, they must also communicate, divide responsibilities and combine their individual strengths.

Through that process, students develop skills that extend beyond robotics: confidence in approaching unfamiliar problems, persistence when an idea fails and a willingness to collaborate toward a shared goal.

Supporting a Growing Robotics Pathway

The grant will allow CCS to continue developing its relatively new program while responding to increased student interest.

“Our current CCS robotics program budget was not designed for two robotics programs or students working in three different grade-band divisions,” Rosenow said. “The support from the TVA and TSIN robotics grant program allows these additional funds to focus on the still-new 4th–6th grade robotics program.”

The impact of the VEX IQ program is already extending into Middle School. Students transitioning from VEX IQ equipment to the more advanced VEX V5 platform have entered the program prepared to apply their experience with robot design, programming, documentation and project management.

Postseason robotics activities have also helped new participants become familiar with the program, build relationships with teammates and discover the roles that best match their interests and abilities before beginning a new season.

With four additional robot kits and support for competition expenses, the TVA STEM Robotics Award will help CCS provide more students with the time, tools and hands-on experiences needed to grow as problem-solvers, teammates and emerging engineers.